Pop Goes Plastic

A finale of fun will mark the end of Plastic Free July on July 29 with the Pop-up Plastic Free July Festival at the Harbourside Markets from 10am to 2pm featuring a Toy Swap, a Repurposed Plastics community art exhibition, Jetty Beach Walk and Clean-up and beeswax wrap demos.

“It’s been amazing to see the community and local businesses really get on board with going plastic free,” said Council’s Waste Education Officer Louise DeMattia. “Heaps of local cafes, markets and traders have been offering discounts for using reusable keepcups and banning plastic straws and single-use plastic bags.

“Plus we’ve been overwhelmed with people wanting to take part in the beeswax wrap workshops we’ve been running and there was a big turnout to the Boomerang Bags sewing bees at Woopi and Coffs.

“During the month we’ve scheduled seven beeswax wrap workshops, one plastic free shopping tour, three film screenings, a DIY beauty and cleaning products workshop, three Boomerang Bag sewing bees and a Coastal Walk and Clean-up for Schools.

“At Council we have already held a massive organisation-wide, plastic-free morning tea and we set up Boomerang Bag and keepcup ‘borrowing libraries’.”

At the Pop-up Festival on July 29 you can enjoy the usual fabulous outdoor market bursting at the seams with a great range of local produce, tasty foods, delicious coffee and amazing handmade art and craft.

“Plus you can take part in the Toy Swap, which is a great way to extend the life of toys that are in good nick, but have had their time in your home – and it helps to minimise the amount of plastics going to landfill,” added Louise.

“And you can be blown away by the imaginative way locals have repurposed plastics to create amazing artworks from reused and recyclable plastics.”

Specific details for taking part in the Toy Swap can be found on the Our Living Coast website and Facebook sites. In a nutshell you can bring a maximum of 5 toys per person to swap, and each toy will be categorised based on values of $5, $5-$10 and $20 and over.

‘Repurposing our Plastics’ is a community art exhibition aims to challenge peoples’ perceptions about ‘rubbish’ and to celebrate the reuse and recycling of waste through arts and crafts. It is open to all local schools and residents – you just have to complete the online registration form by 5pm on Friday, July 20 2018.