Last month, an enthusiastic group of people of all ages and interests gathered at the John Taylor Room in Kilmore to launch Plastic Free July 2024.
Plastic Free July started in Western Australia in 2011 and is now a global movement of 100 million people.
BEAM Mitchell Environment Group launched the event in the Mitchell Shire and invited all residents, businesses, community organisations, and the Mitchell Shire Council to take part in this year’s theme of ‘Small Steps, Big Differences.’
A particular focus of the theme was pledging to do away with single-use plastics by using a keep-cup for takeaway coffee, carrying your own water bottle, and finding substitutes for plastic cling wrap such as beeswax, which attendees got the chance to make.
One of the organisers Emily Buchanan noted the importance of reusing containers.
“Less than 10 per cent of all plastics gets recycled,” she said.
“The rest goes into our Council’s landfill, subsidised by our rates, and can take up to 10,000 years to breakdown.”
Ms Buchanan highlighted at the launch how the Plastic Free July organisation provides many ideas and simple steps that all residents can undertake to reduce their plastic footprint.
Co-event organiser ‘AJ’ Zara-Girstuns was at hand to help both young and old participants turn T-shirts and unneeded material into trendy shopping bags, while Goulburn Valley Water provided long-lasting water bottles to all participants.
“These are small but important steps we can all take,” she said.
Freya Grant from Café 96 in Seymour was also present to demonstrate how cafes can easily provide healthier, low-cost alternatives to disposable and unhealthy plastics, which can sometimes cling to takeaway food. She additionally noted several steps that the cafe had taken to reduce their own plastic footprint, such as offering a mug library and a range of bulk foods which are plastic free.
To learn more about BEAM Mitchell Environment Group, visit www.beam.org.au.
