Handmade Canberra is dedicated to reducing our environmental footprint with each market we host, including single-use plastics. With Global Recycling Day on March 18, we thought it was the perfect time better time to tell you about the work that we are doing! Handmade Canberra is committed to reducing the amount of waste we produce and increasing the amount of recycling we do at each event.
In 2022 the ACT Single-Use Plastics Ban was introduced. This means that the following items are no longer allowed at our markets:
- Single-use plastic cutlery
- Plastic beverage drink stirrers
- Expanded polystyrene takeaway food and beverage containers
- Degradable plastic bags
In addition to the ban, we work with the ACT NoWaste team to disallow some additional plastic products not currently included in the ban, such as single-use plastic bowls, plates, and takeaway containers.
At all of our markets, we provide multiple recycling stations around the venue to ensure that our customers and stallholders have accessible options to dispose of their waste thoughtfully. Clear signage is provided to help users determine which bin to use and at the conclusion of the market, the waste is disposed of, in line with ACT waste recycling processes.
If you are attending our Canberra markets, you may also notice that our stallholders ask if you require a bag when you make a purchase. Quite often our customers will bring their own reusable shopping bags, or are happy to place additional purchases in the same bag as the first purchase they make at a market. An act as simple as this can have such a huge impact on reducing waste!
We are committed to working with our customers and stallholders to ensure that we are continually looking at ways in which we can offer support in the change over to more sustainable options. On Global Recycling Day remember that every contribution, however small, helps in the fight to reduce global pollution for a more sustainable future. Lets become #recyclingheroes together!
To see some of our makers who specialise in slow fashion and using repurposed objects in their products, be sure to take a look at our Sustainable Makers blog post.