Congratulations to our Plastic Free July competition winners!

Three lucky Maroondah residents have shared in $250 worth of prizes following the announcement of winners of our Plastic Free July competition.

Deputy Mayor and Chair of the Maroondah Environment Advisory Committee, Councillor Marijke Graham, congratulated the winners who will each be awarded a zero-waste prize.

“Thank you to everyone who participated in our Plastic Free July competition and to those who took up the challenge of going plastic free for a month. We received some great and innovative photo entries showing how people are avoiding single-use plastic by either reusing, recycling or upcycling plastic products,” Cr Graham said.

The winners were drawn at random, with Howie and Lachlan receiving a first prize Zero Waste Hamper valued at $150 for their ‘Bottle lid spiders’ creation.

Second prize (Bento box and re-useable cutlery set) went to Madeline for her yoghurt container-inspired money box.

Third prize (Bento box) went to Davina, who showed how she is recycling soft plastics and other small items that can’t be put in the kerbside bin.

Single-use plastic is anything that is intended to be used once and then thrown away.

“When we throw plastic away it doesn’t biodegrade. Instead it degrades, which means it breaks down into tiny pieces and gets into the food chain. This is a huge problem in our oceans, where plastic is accumulating at a frightening rate,” Cr Graham said.

“By reducing the amount of plastic waste that goes into the garbage and recycle streams we can reduce the environmental impacts caused by plastic,” she said.

“Plastic Free July is a wonderful initiative that encourages us to change our way of thinking and everyday habits when it comes to reducing plastic waste, whether it be reusing shopping bags, coffee cups, produce bags, or switching from plastic to biodegradable bamboo toothbrushes.”

According to the Plastic Free Foundation, the official organisation behind Plastic Free July, millions of people across the globe take part in the challenge each year, with many committing to reducing plastic pollution far beyond the month of July.

In 2019, an estimated 250 million people from 177 countries joined the global movement by taking up the Plastic Free July challenge.

View some of this year’s entries to our Plastic Free July competition below!