St Mary’s College has been making positive changes to reduce its waste, with particular focus on the school canteen and the introduction of a package-free policy. Initiated by the College’s student-led sustainability group, The Footprint Project, the College is aiming to serve healthy, tasty meals while doing away with single-use products and packaging.

In addition to phasing out bottled and carton drinks, plastic-sealed snacks and packaged icy poles, the College has also introduced re-usable plates, bowls, cups and cutlery for the 900+ staff and students to enjoy their meals before being returned to the canteen for washing and re-use.

The changes were introduced at the end of October 2019 and have led to a significant decrease in waste volume, with only one garbage bin of rubbish now coming from the canteen each day. What a great achievement!

College Canteen Manager Phil Shanny, who has been a supporter of the sustainable food movement for more than 10 years, said he hopes to make the canteen “as sustainable as possible”. With its onsite fruit and vegetable garden used in the canteen menu plus the College’s bi-annual Sustainability Fair, compost program and Plastic Free July activities among others, they are well on their way to success!

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The Poulton Family from Westbury are truly good sorts. They set themselves a ‘Bread Bag Challenge’: to reduce the volume of their household garbage so it fills no more than one bread bag per week.

The idea came after the family of four decided to start recycling their soft plastics via REDCycle at the supermarket. When they went to add a soft plastics collection bag at home they realised there wasn’t enough space for the regular garbage bag too and so they switched from a big garbage bag to a bread bag instead.

This temporary fix became a household challenge and before long they were composting, avoiding products with too much packaging, and sorting all kinds of recycling to keep their garbage waste to a minimum.

They’ve made so many changes for good that they’ve been able to fit their landfilled garbage in a bread bag every week for several months! It’s a great example of positive action and well deserving of being named overall winners in the 2019 North TAS Waste NoT Awards (pictured accepting their award from Northern Midlands Council Mayor Mary Knowles).

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With Good Sorts like Travis, Tasmania’s future is in great hands!  Travis lives in northern TAS and says that when he grows up, he wants to be a “Garbologist”.  He even dressed up as one at a recent Book Week event at his school.

He’s got his family’s waste and recycling sorted and helps out with his neighbour’s bins too – rain, hail or shine.  Travis knows what can and can’t be recycled and is very particular about what items go into each bin.

He’s encouraging his family to avoid – reduce- reuse and recycle as much as possible; well done Travis!

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Mark and Ange’s energy, passion and action towards waste avoidance in Tasmania puts them firmly in the ‘good sort’ category.
Four years ago they voluntarily started cleaning up litter in Bridgewater and Gagebrook after walking over the Jordan River Bridge and noticing the extraordinary amount of debris polluting the waterway.

More than 250 shopping trolleys, 86000 cigarette butts and 38000 recyclable containers later, the Bridgewater Gagebrook Clean Up Group continues to make a significant difference to their local streets, parks and reserves. Not even a blackberry infested riverbank can deter them from hand-cutting their way to litter trapped in the vegetation!

Mark and Ange are strong advocates for a container deposit scheme in Tasmania and are motivated to make their neighbourhood look great while leaving a positive legacy for future generations. The Group has harnessed the interest of followers on social media and regularly share the volume and types of litter found to raise awareness and to stimulate behaviour change.

To get behind their efforts or to lend a hand with clean-ups, visit the Bridgewater Gagebrook Clean Up Group on Facebook

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Dutchy and his work-team at Trawmanna are truly good sorts. Not only have they converted used 1.25L plastic bottles into a functional and stylish greenhouse, but they’ve also managed to salvage a wide range of materials to complete the job from a screen door, to bricks and old tent poles.
The idea to build a greenhouse from recycled materials was devised by the Circular Head Aboriginal Corp (CHAC) after Smithton won the 2017 National Tidy Town Award. While attending the Award ceremony, CHAC members were inspired by similar projects that combined waste minimisation with community nutrition and nurturing programs.
The greenhouse sits within a community garden at Trawmanna and will be a valuable addition for the young families who come together to raise fruit and vegetable seeds and propagate cuttings of native plants. The roof is half salvaged Perspex sheets and half plastic bottles, allowing for both wet and dry areas to suit different growing needs. The bottled-wall design also allows airflow while retaining warmth. The unused part of the bottles are being converted into planter pots and waste cardboard is frequently used as a weed mat under pathways. The team has also been experimenting with mulched polystyrene waste and concrete to create insulated pavers for the hothouse floor.
What a great example of ingenuity that is turning trash into nutritious and tasty treasures!

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The Local Coffeehouse in Huonville is a classic good sort kind of place.

Not only does this community-minded business sort their waste for kerbside and soft plastics recycling, but they also gather handy items such as jars and egg trays and promote their reuse in the café and via the Reduce Reuse Huon Valley group.

The menu is kept deliberately simple to minimise food waste and any food scraps either help feed their own livestock or go into compost at the nearby Honeywood Farm, along with the café’s compostable napkins. Coffee grounds are put aside for collection by local gardeners to enrich their soils.

It’s been a gradual journey to minimise waste at The Local, motivated by wanting to make a difference in practical and achievable ways. They’ve harnessed the local community where possible, using social media to find solutions for their waste and establish themselves as a TerraCycle collection point for hard-to-recycle items.

These simple but important actions have helped The Local reduce its garbage volume by around 75% – now there’s a good sort!
See how The Local goes about its business at www.facebook.com/thelocalhuonville/

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Meet Trish Haeusler.  She’s a good sort because she’s the founder of Plastic Free Launceston, a community group dedicated to ridding the city of single use plastics.

Plastic Free Launceston was started in early 2017 after identifying a need to respond to the growing concerns of plastic pollution. A Facebook page launched a community conversation and it quickly progressed into an active working group of TamarNRM.

The aim of Plastic Free Launceston is to promote practical ways to reduce single use and unnecessary plastics and to invite the community to increase their understanding of plastic pollution and share their own ideas to combat this problem.

The dedicated group has helped raise awareness and change behaviours towards plastic straws, shopping bags, balloons, coffee cups and a host of other one-off plastic wonders that we could all learn to live without.

Trish and the Plastic Free Launceston team regularly host workshops to sew cloth bags as sustainable alternatives to plastic, encourage businesses and individuals to get involved in Plastic Free July and The Last Straw campaigns and promote sustainable alternatives to plastic around the home, in workplaces and schools.

Find out more and follow their inspiring efforts at www.facebook.com/plasticfreelaunceston.

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They’re good sorts at Gaia’s Nest Childcare…not only have they halved their garbage waste by switching to compostable nappies, wipes, gloves and bin liners but they also encourage families to drop off compost at the centre if they don’t have access to a compost bin of their own.

Michelle Beakley is Director of Gaia’s Nest and she has been rethinking waste and identifying what they can recycle and reuse right across the centre.  They have developed a culture of conscious thinking towards zero waste.  Where possible they source pre-loved quality toys and games (too good to go to waste!) and avoid petroleum-based materials instead choosing lovingly home-made dolls, wooden toys and items left by nature.

They’re even starting to stock the pantry from wholefoods stores to avoid purchasing unnecessary packaging and they make their own hand soaps which they refill in to re-usable dispensers.

Families are encouraged to bring their children’s lunches in bento style lunch boxes to reduce packaging waste too.

Over the last 12 months they have saved over 23,000 nappies from going into landfill.

Located in Mornington, Gaia’s Nest is an inspiring setting for the Tassie waste warriors of tomorrow!

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