The Independent Media Agencies of Australia (IMAA) this week conducted its annual Indie Clean Up Australia Day event, drawing participation from over 300 staffers from independent media agencies, along with IMAA members and partners. The clean-up efforts spanned across the east coast of Australia, encompassing Canberra, Newcastle, Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane.

A total of 35 independent media agencies and 14 IMAA media partners took part in the initiative. Participating agencies included Ad Associates, Adenium, Apparent, Assembled Media, Benedictus Media, Connected, Enigma, Equality Media, G Squared, Hatched, Howatson & Co, JSL Media, Kaimera, Leonards, Lexlab, Mckenzie Partners, Media 33, Media Republic, Meerkat, Metropolis, Murmur, Noisy Beast, One Media Co, O'Neill Media, Pearman, Saint Mob Media, Social Garden, Sweeneys, The Media Store, The Pistol, Thinkerbell, Vonni Media, and Yango. Media partners involved in the event included ACM, ARN, Blis, Criteo, Foxtel, Gumtree Group, JCDecaux, Meta, News Corp Australia, Nexxen, REA Group, SCA, Seven, Stackadapt, Taboola, The Channel Factory, and Uber Advertising.

The event is part of the broader Clean Up Australia Day initiative, which was launched in 1990 and is now in its 35th year. Over the years, Clean Up Australia Day has accumulated 38.5 million hours of volunteer time across 16,320 sites, with participation from more than 22 million Australians. Funds raised during the event are allocated towards developing resources aimed at educating the public on litter prevention, environmental waste streams, and broader environmental issues.

IMAA CEO Sam Buchanan said: "This is our third year getting involved with Clean Up Australia Day, and we have a record number of our members and media partners participating this year. It’s fantastic to see so many of our members and partners donating their time in order to help maintain and conserve our community spaces, which we are all so grateful to be able to live in and enjoy.

"The Indie Clean up Australia Day is our industry’s biggest sustainability initiative. It is an important part of our overall commitment to environmental initiatives, with three quarters of our members saying that the environment is important to them. We are proud to be able to contribute to improving Australia’s environment."

This marks the third consecutive year that the IMAA has participated in Clean Up Australia Day, reflecting the ongoing commitment of the independent media sector to environmental sustainability.