Are your local markets a travesty of conflict?
You want chemical free or organic produce but they are handed to you in a plastic bag inside another plastic bag, you order some food that is handed to you in a styrofoam box with plastic sauce containers. Thankfully the days of mountains of plastic at events are becoming fewer but it’s not all rosy yet!
Climate Wave Enterprises was contracted to provide sustainable waste management services at The Village Markets, Burleigh Heads and if you like what you see, demand that from your local market…it’s up to all of us to make significant beneficial changes for our lives & the planet!
Since the implementation of Climate Wave Enterprises’ services at The Village Markets, there has been an 80% reduction in the amount of material going to landfill. Over just 3 events there was a further 33% reduction in landfill between 17/11/2019 and 01/12/2019, on top of a 45% reduction between 03/11/2019 as a result of Climate Wave Enterprises’ services.
Summary
The important points of The Village Markets Zero-Waste report 3 are:
60L of organic waste was diverted from landfill to be used at the Burleigh Heads State School garden;
960L of compostable material was diverted from landfill to be composted;
240L of cans and bottles were diverted from landfill to be used for a container deposit scheme;
240L of recyclable material was diverted from landfill to be recycled; and
240L of waste went to landfill.
This means that 1740L of waste was produced, where:
1500L of waste was prevented from going to landfill; and
Only 240L of waste went to landfill.
A good result was obtained on this occasion, with a very low percentage of contamination and a high level of attendee education, as well as a great volume of organic detritus deposited into the Burleigh Heads State School garden.
Aim
To reduce the amount of waste created during popular events from going to landfill. As evidenced by the National Waste Policy (2018) By instituting Climate Wave Enterprises’ services and by building positive and cooperative relationships within the community at events, these objectives can be met on a small scale, and on a larger scale, protect the environment by maintaining the value of materials in the economy for as long as possible, as well as opposing the unsustainable and irresponsible consumption and production of resources, which is also an objective (12) of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (2019).
Results
On this occasion, good results were obtained again, as evidenced by the outcomes. It was found that the total amount of waste produced was the same as the last event, although there was a greater amount of recovered waste this time, which shows a positive trend in Climate Wave Enterprises’ systems and services at The Village Markets.
It was worked out that each green and yellow lid bin had a volume of 240L, each bucket, where organic materials were generally kept, had a volume of 15L, and the newly implemented composting bin for the Burleigh Heads State School garden had a volume of 170L. From this information, the volume of waste was worked out by multiplying the number of filled or partially filled containers by the volume of each of them. Below is the working out for the data used in the graphs and tables throughout this report, and the referencing to them.
Components of Our Services:
Organic Material
The event’s organic material was requested by the Burleigh Heads State School to be introduced into their garden. By using this system, the social and community benefits of this relationship from a sustainable event management perspective far out-way the easy alternative. This system also reduces the associated waste cartage and processing costs, which can be diverted to the community.
Food Stall Engagement
Ultimately, our positive diversion rate from landfill could not have been achieved without cooperation from the food vendors during the event, even though some did not commit to their obligations at the end of the event, most were happy to cooperate. All food vendors were approached throughout the event to confirm whether their materials were compostable or recyclable to ensure the contamination rate was kept to a minimal.
Waste Education
Ideally, every waste station at a zero-waste event should have an Eco Angel that can guide people with proper waste disposal and local waste station sorting, so the contamination of bins won’t occur, while saving time sorting. The level of waste education was high, with attendees very open to learn and extremely appreciative of what we were trying to achieve. Event attendees are a captured audience, who can be educated on waste, reuse and recycling, which is extremely beneficial in the War on Waste, and they will share this directly into networks in other communities, which will bring greater awareness of sustainable events and waste reduction.
Site clean-up
The grounds were cleaned where rubbish was seen throughout the event, as well as at the end to ensure our zero-waste goals were achieved.
The Village Markets
It was a pleasure working with The Village Markets to achieve a zero-waste event. It is clear the staff and most food vendors value sustainable event management and waste systems, as they expressed their thanks, and acted on future opportunities with the Burleigh Heads State School. There is an opportunity to continue this great partnership and to be a great model for other events to adopt more sustainable practices as well.
Special thanks to:
Climate Wave Enterprises once again thanks The Village Markets for the opportunity and would welcome further discussion on recommendations within this document and further sustainable event management systems that may be undertaken.
Report by:
Murray Morris
Climate Wave Enterprises…working with the planet
murraymorris@outlook.com.au
www.climatewave.com
Partnering with Griffith University Community Internship Program
CWE acknowledge the Yugambeh language people as traditional owners and custodians of the land on which we work and live.
