Clean up Sydney, Australia and later the world king, Ian Kiernan AOM, AO died earlier this week, aged 78, after a short battle with cancer.
Ian was honoured with a number of significant awards for his environmental efforts, including being presented with the Medal of the Order of Australia (AOM) in 1991 and named Australian of the Year in 1994. In 1995 he was appointed an Officer (AO) of the Order of Australia, in recognition for his help protecting HRH Prince Charles from a fake assassination attempt.
I remember Ian most for his inspiring annual Clean Up Australia Day efforts. I so often used to forget the March weekend clean up on the actual weekend, but to make up for not doing my bit at that time, I started to practice clean up Australia on a random basis.
If I happened to have a plastic bag with me when I walked on our famous Great Ocean Road beaches, or any other beach for that matter, I have picked up rubbish and I know others who do and have done the same. From my experience it didn’t take long before the typical supermarket size shopping bag was full of detritus.
Unfortunately, I think I could be occupied on a full time basis cleaning up rubbish around the streets of Melbourne.
Station Rubbish Bin Campaign
A really simplie little campaign I have been waging this year has been to get a lid on a rubbish bin near a local heritage railway station. This has involved speaking to the local council first, who informed me it was a Metro Trains responsibility. After several contacts with Metro Trains ‘Customer Feedback’ section, I was advised that it is their cleaning contractor ISS Facilities Services who would deal with the issue. Two months later and still the same bin with no lid. My original contact was in January 2018.
I noticed Croydon railway station has the same type of un-lidded bins, and that station has rubbish everywhere too. Why would Metro Trains still use old style bins without lids at some stations? It is just asking for rubbish to blow everywhere.
I have been told by another Metro Trains contracting service that I need to approach the Public Transport Ombudsman to get something done. Why is it so hard to get a lid on a bin?
Legacy
Getting a lid on a bin at a train station (or two or three stations, or however many stations there are with this type of bin, I’ve only complained about one station), is a very trivial matter, but no doubt it is these small issues that combine to create the volume of rubbish which Ian Kiernan was so determined to clean up!
May we honour Ian’s legacy any way we can. What an inspiring man he was.
Vale Ian Kiernan
Jane Deany 
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