Nine councils of the Hunter Region (Hunter Councils) have joined forces to encourage people to reduce waste this Christmas.
They have launched a TV advertising campaign to encourage people to shop locally and reduce waste in the home this festive season. The awareness campaign is targeted towards the average family household who celebrate the Christmas period with large gatherings and present giving.
The NSW Government has set ambitious targets to increase recycling and reduce litter and illegal dumping across NSW, to support these targets the government has established the Waste Less Recycle More initiative, which is a five-year program to fund the transformation of waste and recycling in NSW.
In order to access this funding, council’s were required to collaborate on a regional waste strategy. As a result nine councils within the Hunter have developed the ‘Hunter Region Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Strategy’. The strategy has a three-year Action Plan to drive the activities required to meet the targets.
The TVC launched earlier this week and it is a comedic take on ‘Keeping up with Joneses’.
Regional Coordinator of Waste Education at Hunter Councils Juliana Cain said Small Acts Big Change is a waste education campaign designed to inspires and motivate the community to action, with simple activities households can undertake to reduce their impact on the environment.
“The campaign has been designed to engage the community by humorously highlighting the excesses that everyone can relate to at Christmas. Christmas is often associated by families with full bins, on average it is estimated to be a 30 per cent increase in waste generated over the Christmas season,” Juliana said.
“This time of year is also notorious for over indulging in food, and is also notorious for throwing away a huge amount of uneaten food, it is estimated we throw away 20 per cent of the total food we buy. Food waste can be avoided at Christmas time with careful menu planning, shopping to a list and utilising your leftovers.”
“Residents of the Hunter are encouraged to make their Christmas celebration more sustainable and support local businesses by giving vouchers for local business or services, buying local produce, making or cooking gifts or even donating to charities in lieu of presents.”
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