Australia is going GREEN. Learn about a small part of the ongoing rubbish and cleaning initiatives in the country.
Rubbish and pollution are huge problems all around the globe. Australia is not an exception. We produce huge amounts of waste and pollute the environment maybe in all ways possible. But the situation here is not so bad as in some other parts in the world. Recently I found that there are lots of rubbish and cleaning initiatives going on across the country. Here are some of them:
1.E-waste recycling day
This is an event hold by the City of Melbourne. Every year in October they set a place (places) where we can drop off our electronic and electrical waste to be recycled. The recycling itself is free. Great idea especially if we take under consideration the fact that E-waste contains pollutants and materials that may cause a lot of damage to nature and environment.
2.Clean Up Day
"The largest community-based environmental event". All this started with a single man and a good intention. Now the events bring together thousand of Australian volunteers which ends up in thousands of tones rubbish removed and hundreds of sites cleaned. Except the major events - Clean Up Australia Day, Business Clean Up Day, Schools Clean Up Day, Great Northern Clean Up, Clean Up Dumping and more the organisation (the committee evolved in an organisation eventually) they encourage citizens to take a part in "Clean Up Every Day" initiative and help in cleaning Australia by organising local cleaning events on weekly, monthly, bi-monthly or quarterly basis.
3.Reverse Vending Machine or Recycling Machines
This is an initiative of city of Sydney. Several of these machines are placed in the city centre. The machines work the opposite way to a vending machine. For every empty drink can or plastic bottle you put in you get a reward. According to the city council website in the moment the rewards we can choose from are - family pass to the 2015 Sydney New Year’s Eve Dawes Point Viewing Area, food vouchers or the chance to donate your reword to several environmentally orientated organisations.
4.Waste & Recycle Conference
The first of these conferences took place in 2011 in Western Australia. The event is presented as "opportunity to share your expertise and experience with the waste industry, Local, State and Federal Government, education institutions and interested members of the community". Conference is opened(registration fee required) not only for people in the waste and recycling business but for anyone and is a great place to learn the news and get familiar with the latest projects and innovations. This is not the only conference on the topic - Waste 2015 already took place in NSW. That's not a bad thing, the more we talk on these problems the better.
5.Australasian Waste & Recycling Expo
This event is more business orientated. So if you are in the rubbish business this is a great opportunity to meet contractors from Asia, Europe, Americas and New Zealand looking for innovative ways to collect, sort and process waste from the municipal, commercial and construction sectors.
That's just a small part from the initiatives in Australia, and I mean just for this year. All councils also encourage people to donate, sell or give away unwanted items. Not all of these things are "ready" to go to the landfills. Giving them for reuse will reduce the environmental impact and is a good way to save money.
In conclusion the only thing I can say is that Australia is going GREEN and that's really good news.
