The Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Pirates with Harry Lowe at last year’s Resource and Waste Expo. Photo: provided.
Making conscientious choices to reduce household waste and protect the environment has some different implication in cooler climates – that’s why Snowy Monaro Regional Council’s annual Resource and Waste Expo will include workshops not just on how to plant a tree but how to keep it alive at 900 metres of altitude.
The Expo, to be held at the Jindabyne Memorial Hall between 10 am – 3 pm on Saturday (May 11), has the theme: Beyond the Bin – putting the 5Rs into the Spotlight.
The Expo is a family-friendly event with activities, demonstrations, and entertainment designed to teach all ages about the 5Rs of recycling – Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Rot.
The 5Rs will help residents improve their recycling routine by limiting the amount of waste thrown away. This will help conserve natural resources, landfill space, and energy.
Locals and tourists alike can also purchase a cozy worm doona to keep the wrigglers warm at night and get advice on how to use “Coom-post,” the rich result of Cooma’s Food Waste, Garden Waste program.
Cooma’s town food waste is turned into ‘Coompost’. A Guess the Weight competition was held at the 2018 Waste Expo. Photo: provided.
There will be a range of interactive workshops on the day with a focus on re-using and re-purposing, with scraps of cloth to be turned into Boomerang Bags, wood offcuts turned into toys or rolling pins by the Snowy River Woodturners and surplus food dehydrated and consumed later rather than thrown away.
“We’ve had good feedback after our previous Expo’s, some of which were before my time with the council,” says Resouce and Waste Education Officer Belinda Ingram, “people have said they learnt a lot and come away inspired to make positive changes to their waste output.”
The Expo will have something for everyone with entertaining performances by the Eaton Gorge Theatre Company’s ‘The Waste Warriors’.
Gilbert the Garbage Truck entertains at 2018’s Snowy Monaro Waste Expo. Photo: provided
A treasure hunt and lots of giveaways and prizes on the day will round out this fun community event.
Educating residents is the first priority but reaching the sizeable tourist population is also important, Ms Ingram says.
“We have a similar situation to the Eurobodalla and the Bega Valley in that there is a large tourist population at certain times of the year and part of what we’re looking at is how to make information more accessible to tourists.
“Things like having clear information about compost and bin collection at rental houses makes a big difference to how much goes into landfill over tourist season.”
Ms Ingram says that although the event has been held at Jindabyne for the past few years and will be again this year, in the future the Resource and Waste team hope to expand the Expo to Bombala and/or Cooma to reach an even wider audience.
Snowy Monaro Regional Council’s Resource and Waste Expo will be held at the Jindabyne Memorial Hall between 10 am – 3 pm on Saturday, May 11.
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