Important Smart Living Event

Are you unsure about what to put into your kerbside recycling? Do you want to reduce your waste to landfill but unsure where to start? Ever since the waste crisis in 2018 recycling has become a whole lot more confusing. To add to this, many local government areas have different contractors who collect and manage their waste. This month we will be talking to the City of Ballarat about how we can work together to reduce waste and recycle better.

The City of Ballarat Waste Services Team will be joining us on Wednesday 20 October to share the importance of reducing contamination in the yellow-lid recycling bin and reducing waste to landfill. The volume of waste that is collected from over 48,000 residential properties is a significant amount and this is an opportunity to understand how waste is managed and the importance of separating items into the correct household bins. We will also be exploring the current Circular Economy initiatives and the future vision for Circular Infrastructure Hub in BWEZ.

As mentioned in the latest BREAZE newsletter, the City of Ballarat circular economy plan, Circular Ballarat, was released in early September. This framework will build the foundations required for Ballarat to transition to a strong circular economy and targets the waste from manufacturing including ASPIRE, an online marketplace for businesses to buy, sell or exchange waste and commodities. This is available for most Ballarat businesses for free until July 2022 and we will be chatting to the City of Ballarat’s Waste Education Officer about.

This talk comes just in time for National Recycling Week, held from the 8th to the 14th of November 2021. National Recycling Week is an initiative of Planet Ark, established in 1996. The campaign aims to helps you reduce your waste and recycle right. This year they’re celebrating its 25th anniversary! National Recycling Week stresses the importance of “engaging Australians on closing the recycling loop by buying products made with recycled content, which is vital to creating a sustainable future. We need to rethink our waste and see it as a resource that can be turned into new products. By keeping these materials in circulation for as long as possible, this benefits the environment by reducing the extraction of virgin materials for new products, as well as the water and energy it takes to make them.”

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics report for the financial year 2018 -2019:

• · Australia generated 76 million tonnes of waste, 10% increase since 2016-17
• · $17 billion spent on waste services, 18% increase since 2016-17
• · Construction industry spent the most on waste services ($2 billion), 35% increase since 2016-17

This event will be presented via Zoom and streamed live onto the Smart Living Ballarat Facebook page. A recording of the event will be available on the Smart Living Ballarat Facebook page instantly after the event. To join live and be able to participate in the Q+A, please register for the Zoom presentation.

This free talk is hosted by Smart Living Ballarat for BREAZE Inc. in collaboration with the City of Ballarat and is part of a free series of monthly sustainability workshops presented every 3rd Wednesday of the month.