One person’s trash is another person’s treasure – if those parties are connected enough to benefit by swapping. After years of EcoCentre advocacy, Victoria is now setting policy for a circular economy, wherein nothing is wasted because the ‘leftovers’ from any process, job or product are repeatedly shared, repaired, or reshaped to produce something new. (A handy 3 minute 'explainer' video.)
Nature follows circular patterns. Current human systems tend to disrupt it, e.g. putting green scraps into wheelie bins instead of composting them where they fall. Because we use SO MUCH SO QUICKLY, convenience eventually becomes inconvenience, like mountains of plastic catching fire while waiting to be recycled.
Simultaneous to adopting a circular economy, we all must dial down buying & chucking faster than earth can make new materials, and faster than industries can reuse our ‘waste’. We must avoid wastefulness, take joy in sharing and repairing, and enjoy a big life with a smaller footprint! Recommended resources: interactive eco-footprint calculator, Aussie books Less Stuff and Waste Not, and Minimalism: A doco about the important things. And, of course .... see you at our monthly Repair Cafe!
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Last week the EcoCentre released alarming new figures revealing that litter reaching Port Phillip Bay from the Yarra & Maribyrnong Rivers has increased to 1.4 BILLION items per year, with over 1 billion of those being microplastics. This litter is ours and ours alone. Read the report in The Age here, or watch our 90 second summary video. |
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The EcoCentre's Living Water Workbees program has installed enough watertanks and raingardens in the last year to divert or filter 1.3 million litres of stormwater before reaching waterways. Explore biodiversity in Elsternwick Park next Saturday 17 August - your participation raises funds for the instalation of more rainwater tanks in homes and schools.
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Cool & compelling
- Spanish and Chinese subtitles are now available for the EcoCentre's award-winning Baykeepers documentary on YouTube. Contact Reiko on reiko@ecocentre.com to organise a screening of Baykeepers for Chinese- or Spanish-speaking communities.
- Breaking EcoCentre research was published in The Age last week, showing litter reaching Port Phillip Bay from the Yarra & Maribyrnong Rivers has increased to 1.4 billion items per year. All litter categories are increasing, except straws.
- Over 1 billion microplastics clog the Bay, but solutions are on the horizon. Last week an Irish teenager won $50,000 from the Google Science Fair to try scale-up a water purification technique which removes 87% of the microplastics in a sample of water.
- This follows news of a 12 year old building a robot that can move through water and detect microplastics.
- Recently, Victorian recycling company SKM was forced to shut down. Reduction of waste in the first place, and then proper sorting of recycling, can support a more innovative and effective local recycling industry.
- In an effort to reduce the amount of single-use coffee cups going to landfill, this month 7-Eleven is offering free coffee to all customers who bring in a reuseable cup.
- The City of Melbourne has joined thousands of others around the world in declaring a climate emergency, calling on all levels of government to take urgent action to limit warming to 1.5C.
- Sunshine Coast Council is trialling an innovative new misting system to save threatened species such as flying foxes from climate change-induced heat stress.
- Last chance: could you be an Enviro Champ? City of Port Phillip's FREE Enviro Champs program provides ten weeks of expert mentoring to turn your vision into a reality. Apply by 23 August.
- Applications are now open for Veg Out's BIG Sculpture Competition, calling on artists to design a sculpture for Veg Out's community garden next to Luna Park. Applications close 30 August.
- Missing book: We lent "Land of Sweeping Plains" by Adrian Marshall to a community member, but it never found its way back to the EcoCentre. This copy was gifted to a friend of the EcoCentre by the author - if you borrowed it, please return it to the EcoCentre as soon as possible!
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Mark your diary
• Sun 11 Aug 2-5pm - St Kilda Repair Cafe at the EcoCentre. FREE.
• Wed 14 Aug 6:30-7:30pm - EcoCentre Volunteer Induction (Evening Session). Join us to get started volunteering with the EcoCentre! Registrations essential.
• Sat 17 Aug 10-11am - Pre-Spring Wetland Walk. Explore the biodiversity of Elsternwick Park North (formerly a golf course), and tackle plastic pollution. Attendance raises funds for the installation of rainwater tanks and raingardens through the EcoCentre's Living Water Workbees program. FREE: Registrations essential.
• Sat 17 Aug 10-11am - Community Garden Working Bee, hosting by Simply Living Community Garden at Southport Uniting Church. Refreshments provided.
• Thurs 22 Aug 1-3pm - Gratitude Mandala Workshop, hosted by ecopsychologist Deb Punton and artist Karen Hopkins at Space2b Social Design, St Kilda. Deepen your relationship with nature and creative expression through meditation and mandala making. $25 - buy tickets here.
• Thurs 22 Aug 6:30-8:30pm - TREATY: A Community Conversation, hosted by Port Phillip Citizens for Reconciliation. Learn more about Victoria's historic Treaty process with guest speakers Richard Frankland and Diana David. FREE: Register here.
• Sat 24 Aug 9:30am - 1pm - Free Pop-up Bike Repair at South Melbourne Market. Ride your bike to the market for a free bike tune-up from the team at Back2Bikes.
• Sun 25 Aug 10am - 1pm - Yarra River Blitz, hosted by Yarra Riverkeeper Association and Cleanwater Group. Get ready to blitz-clean and love our waterways and parklands! All equipment including gloves provided. Find out more here.
• Thurs 29 Aug 4-5:30pm - Free Teachers' Professional Development: Climate Change in the Classroom. Get equipped with the latest climate change data and the skills you need to introduce climate change in the classroom through facts and storytelling, and how to empower your students toward practical solutions. FREE: Registrations essential.
• Fri 13 Sep 10:30-11:30am - EcoCentre Volunteer Induction. Join us to get started volunteering with the EcoCentre! Registrations essential.
• Fri 20 Sep 2-4pm - Global Climate Strike, organised by School Strike 4 Climate. RSVP here.
• Sat 21 Sep 9:30-11:30am - Spring Clean The City, organised by Beach Patrol, Love Our Street, Clean Up Australia and the Boomerang Alliance. Join us for Melbourne's biggest street clean event, happening on World Clean-up Day. FREE: Register here.
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