By Renate Griese, Events Officer, AlburyCity
We’re all at different stages of our living lightly journeys, so the annual Albury Wodonga Sustainable Living Festival does its best to cater for everyone on the sustainability spectrum – from the casual and committed to the just plain curious.
More than 4500 people attended the 40 events featured at this year’s festival, but for many of us involved in this month-long celebration it’s the individual stories that stay with us.
Take Bianca, for example, who became a veritable festival groupie, appearing at one event after the other, first spotted at a wicking bed workshop, then seen making beeswax wraps, learning to sharpen garden tools and swotting up on waste wise open house tips.
Judy and John were so inspired by the 50 waste wise open house ideas they requested the full list via email.
Anne was the early bird at our bike maintenance demonstration, eager to learn how to repair a flat tyre so she could teach local immigrants.
Determined to curtail her transport emissions, Helen walked a two hour round trip to attend a wildflower talk on the outskirts of Wodonga, while Kim, who’d recently moved into a new house without a ‘no junk mail’ sticker on the letter box, was thrilled to pick up a free sticker at our fair.
Teacher Amy travelled from Wangaratta to a Wodonga school garden tour, keen for ideas for her school, while Ruth pledged to trial menstrual cups to reduce her reliance on disposable sanitary items. Even highly committed Lisa discovered something new – that foil lined soft plastics such as chip packets can be recycled in the REDcycle containers at major supermarket outlets.
The month-long festival has now drawn to a close, but sustainable living events aren’t just on offer during November. Dozens of local activities happen every month of the year, many readily accessed via the Ecoportal website (eco.redsally.com).
One of the next spectacles on offer is award winning architect, Raffaello Rosselli, demonstrating waste at its beautiful best by revealing a pavilion of upcycled waste from Albury Waste Management Centre at QEII Square in early December.
We hope you were inspired by this year’s Sustainable Living Festival and that you continue to seek, support and adopt lighter living practices throughout the year.
Names have been changed in this article.