Zero Waste Challenge – Have A Go!

Georgie Coram, Community Campaigner with Environment Victoria – a Not-for-Profit – is working with communities, businesses and government on their Zero Waste Campaign. This Challenge is open to individuals and families, it could run successfully through Neighbourhood Houses and would be a great tool for school groups. Georgie is passionate about this and says it’s a fun, informative way to critically assess your consumption and waste behaviours.

The Problem Of Waste Is Twofold

In Victoria we are choking on the 10 million tonnes of waste produced each year. Are we any worse than other States/Territories, I wonder?

• Non recyclable and toxic materials enter our economy and at the end of their life the only viable place for them is landfill.
• Our current lifestyle demands too many of our Earth’s precious natural resources. We mine virgin minerals like iron ore and copper, but many of these minerals cycling though our economy are running out.

About The Challenge

It’s divided into two weeks, so you can pick a two week period that suits and it deals with:

• waste reduction
• sustainable consumption
• product design and manufacturing
• development of a ‘closed-loop economy’ – a system where resources remain in use almost constantly.

Week 1:
Easy – decide ‘who’s in’ and just start thinking about your current waste and consumption practices.

Week 2:

• Weigh and record the waste disposed of in the rubbish bin – not the compost bin.
• Monitor whether food scraps are disposed of in the rubbish bin or some alternative.

Finally there’s a quick 10 minute online survey.

Why not check out Georgie’s latest info here and get team together and let us know what discoveries you make?

You can contact Georgie:
Phone – 9341 8164 or
Email – georgie.coram@envict.org.au