The #zerowaste movement relies heavily on community. We have been inspired by so many different people who are a lot further into the journey than we are. We’ve never felt guilted into change or overwhelmed, but rather inspired and motivated to just start!
Since starting this little blog, I’ve already had so many amazing conversations with people who are interested in what we are doing and have already been inspired to make little changes around their home. I’ve had friends and family tell me about switching to reusable produce bags, switching to soap nuts, eating less meat, buying KeepCups, consider cloth nappies for their babies, start a compost heap, start a vegie patch and just start thinking more about what they use and how they use it. This has been so encouraging for me!
Whilst we understand that recycling is not the solution to our waste problems, it’s definitely an easy way to start and encourages people to make simple changes that have a massive impact on our landfill. This week I’ve been thinking of ways I can engage my community in change and stumbled across the Free Terracycle Recycling Programs. These programs allow you to recycle items that would often be discarded into the landfill like tooth brushes, toothpaste, beauty items, postage bags and coffee pods. Terracycle then reuse, up-cycle, recycle and compost these products – you can read more about this here. In addition to this, through many of the free programs you can also earn rewards points which convert into dollars for your chosen charity!
A large part of my community, is my local church and Tom and I have decided to set up collection boxes at our church so our community can bring in their products and together we can raise money for our chosen charity, Compassion Australia who release children from poverty through child sponsorship and many other amazing programs. Tom and I sponsor three little kiddos who have been a part of our family long before we ever thought of having our own! Together our church sponsors 107 little ones in Thailand – we’re so grateful to be part of such a generous community!
So for us, this is a win win idea. We get to encourage people in their journey to reduce waste and we get to give back to a charity who does so much to improve the lives of families living in poverty. So far I have signed up to recycle beauty products, oral health items and mailing satchels and I’m on the waitlist for the coffee pods program. Tom and I really want this journey to be about valuing people and the environment and I think this is a cool little place to start!
At church, we also run a coffee cart called Arana Coffee. Recently we have made the switch to encouraging people to use mugs and glasses or bring their KeepCups rather than using take-a-way cups and we have been so encouraged by the response (plus it’s fun to see everyone’s personalities displayed in their cups)! We use ethical beans sourced by a local roaster and we have been giving away our coffee grounds at the end of the day in compostable paper bags so people can compost them at home.
If you live around the Arana Hills area and want to collect items to add to our boxes, please let me know! And you’re always more than welcome to join us for a coffee on the deck on a Sunday morning – you might see me and my giant bump squished behind the machine!
#thelittlegreycottage 