Our local skate spaces are more than just ramps and rails.
They’re active, social places where many of our young people come to connect, build skills, and spend time together.
As part of our work to reduce public litter, we’ve been spending time in these local spaces – talking to skaters and riders, listening, and learning. What we found was encouraging: while litter can sometimes be an issue, these spaces are often looked after by the very people who use them most. Many local skate space users already take pride in ‘keeping it clean’ and are keen to help our broader community do the same.
This insight became the foundation for our new litter reduction campaign, ‘Keep It Clean’, which has been co-designed with our local skate space users and TOTEM Skateboarding. Launching during Youth Week, the campaign aims to highlight and amplify the care that already exists in these spaces, encouraging more people to follow their lead.
Amplifying Local Community Pride
We have been spending time at local skate spaces observing behaviour and have seen that, while some littering still occurs, it’s often incidental rather than deliberate. Speaking with skate space users, a clear picture emerged: most are already doing their bit and are keen to do more to help keep the space clean and safe.
When we asked how we can encourage others to do the same, one message came through loud and clear: foster more community pride.
Designing Solutions Together
The result is a community-led campaign featuring bold, creative visuals by Joel Cameron from TOTEM Skateboarding, reflecting the creativity, colour, and energy of skate culture.
The key message? Let’s work together to keep our spaces clean.
Launching this Youth Week
Because young people have been at the heart of this campaign from the beginning, we’re proud to be launching it with them as part of our local Youth Week celebrations.
‘Keep It Clean’ will officially launch at our upcoming Learn to Skate Workshops and Skate Jam, in Port Macquarie and Lake Cathie, hosted by TOTEM Skateboarding.
These free events, open to local youth aged 12 – 15, will feature coaching, music, a jam comp and giveaways – including ‘Keep It Clean’ branded tee’s and skateboard stickers.
It’s a chance to connect, celebrate youth culture, and reinforce the message that keeping our skate spaces clean is something we can all get behind.
