Yamaha Rightwaters Initiative Supports OCA
It takes a special person to dedicate their life to making a difference to the environment. When Boenardi “Boe” Langford met Kimberly Baraiolo at the first day of high school in 2010, the pair realised they shared a similar passion. It was the start of a partnership that would blossom into Outback Cleanups Australia, a not-for-profit charity dedicated to the clean-up and removal of rubbish pollution from remote beach, bush, and marine environments across Australia.
With support from Yamaha Motor Australia through its Rightwaters Initiative, the pair are now removing more rubbish than ever from some of Australia’s most important remote areas and waterways.
Boe Langford has always been an outdoor soul; ask the 26-year-old Aussie where he’s from, and his answer reveals his spirit of adventure and love of the outdoors. “I’m from the desert,” he replies.
As an eight-year-old, Boe saved his pocket money to purchase a minibike, providing him with the means to extend his adventures far beyond what he could achieve on foot or via his trusty pushbike. “It wasn’t long after, I expanded my adventures to getting out on the water – diving whenever I could – I still love diving,” explained Boe. Initially, Boe’s adventures were all about experiencing the awesome landscape Australia has to offer. “Over time I realised I also wanted to give something back and make a difference, Kim felt the same way and that’s why we started Outback Cleanups Australia.”
“Back before Outback Cleanups Australia was a thing, I was on track to become a carpenter,” said Boe, further explaining how he arrived at this point in his life. “I moved down to the coastal region of South Australia to finalise my studies and complete my trade. Unfortunately, not long after I became a carpenter in 2016, a nasty back injury forced me into retirement. I suppose it’s what you might call medically retired,” he added.
Rather than sit at home feeling sorry for himself, Boe decided to follow another ambition, switching his focus to removing as much rubbish as he could from the areas of Australia he loves most – the outback and remote coastal regions and waterways. “Throughout my studies I always had an ambition to travel around Australia on a motorbike, supporting myself with casual carpenter jobs and cleaning up rubbish as I went,” he explained. “It’s something that has always been with me.”
Providing further background to what drives the pair, Kim explained how Boe would often take a break from his apprenticeship studies and get away from it all by traveling through remote areas of South Australia. “Over time, he became increasingly concerned with the amount of rubbish he would find lying around,” she said. “He would be cleaning up what he could and wondering where it was all coming from. There’s no one around for miles. You picture the deserts in Australia as these amazing untouched vast areas, and that is true, but these areas are also full of litter.”
Boe pinpoints those early clean-up adventures as the catalyst for Outback Cleanups Australia. “I knew I wanted to do something for this great country that would benefit future generations, providing them with a chance to enjoy it as much as I do,” he explained. “And as it turned out, it also gave me something constructive to do with my time following my injury. I didn’t want to just sit around and whine about my back – though I still do that a bit,” he laughed. “When Kim returned from travelling the world as a top-level equestrian rider, we founded the Outback Cleanups charity and embarked on a mission to clean up Australia’s outback and remote coastal regions, including some of its most famous waterways.”
Attacking the problems caused by waste and litter making its way into the outback’s pristine waterways required the use of Boe’s trusty rooftop dingy. “I’ve been exploring waterways in little runabouts most of my life,” explained Boe. “My old savage kingfisher was originally powered by a four horsepower Yamaha outboard; I bought that little engine new, and it was awesome. It took me on so many great adventures. As teenagers, my friends and I would head off on ridiculous missions. I hammered that little engine and it just kept delivering.”
Boe pinpoints those legendary early trips as the building blocks for his relationship with the Yamaha brand. “Heading off on an adventure, we knew that if we had enough fuel, we would be okay. There was never a question about the Yamaha’s reliability,” he said. “I’d probably still have it today if we didn’t end up flipping the boat while attempting to use it for surfing – I probably could have coaxed it back to life, but you know when you’re young you get distracted by other things.”
With Outback Cleanups in full swing, Boe and Kim found themselves yearning for Yamaha reliability. “Being stranded on the Margaret River was the last straw with the unreliable outboard we were using,” explained Kim. “So Boe put a call out to Yamaha via social media, asking for assistance. Our program aligned with the Yamaha Rightwaters initiative, and Yamaha was more than happy to help.”
Yamaha Marine organised a new F9 outboard that suited the rooftop dingy Boe and Kim own, and it was put to good use straight away. “It’s been brilliant!” exclaimed Boe. “it’s perfectly suited to our needs. We transport the dingy on the roof of our 4WD and mount the Yamaha F9 to the rear bar. Weighing just 42kg it’s easy to mount onto the boat, but robust enough to tackle the challenges we throw at it. We have already clocked more than 120 hours on it, and it’s just purring along.”
Boe said having Yamaha reliability has provided them with the confidence to tackle bigger water clean-up tasks. “There’s a point in the Murray and Darling Basin where the two rivers run into each other, creating a massive lake before the water makes its way out to the ocean,” Boe explained “That this large area catches a lot of rubbish being washed down river. It’s calm water and easy for us to work in.”
Using their own specially designed garbage collection bags, Boe, Kimberly, and their Yamaha-powered dingy have already removed 600kg of rubbish from the targeted waterways.
“Collecting the rubbish is only one part of the puzzle,” explained Kim. “Disposing of it throws up a whole new set of logistics. The bags we designed allow the water to drain away which makes handling the rubbish a lot easier. Our trailer doubles as a mobile garbage unit, so we spend a fair amount of time bouncing from one refuse depot to the next.”
The recent commissioning of a new trailer is providing the duo with an opportunity to travel further afield. “For the on-water Cleanups, I’d like to venture further up the Murray River,” explained Boe. “The Yamaha F9 is perfectly suited to this task. On land, I’d like to have more than one vehicle operating. We have no shortage of volunteers, but they can’t be expected to use their own vehicles for this type of work. The assistance of companies such as Yamaha Motor Australia – with its well-planned Long-Term Vision and a strong commitment to its Sustainable Development Goals – means Kim and I are confident we can continue to make a difference.
To learn more, visit the Outback Cleanups Australia page.
About Outback Cleanups Australia
Outback Cleanups Australia (OCA) is an Australia registered NFP charity (66516213569) dedicated to the clean-up and removal of rubbish pollution from remote beach, bush, and marine environments across Australia.
OCA was Founded by Boenardi “Boe” Langford in 2019 and ACNC approved in 2022. Since 2019 Boe and Partner Kim have removed, collected, recycled and data logged 67,300 kilograms of rubbish pollution from remote beach, bush and marine environments across Australia.
OCA is dedicated to changing the perception that picking up rubbish is a punishment (often learnt at school). The goal is to empower all generations to take pride in their country. OCA works to inspire people to think both globally and locally, and to be proud of the positive impact they can have by cleaning up a little bit of Australia every day.
