In the six years Jess was a volunteer organiser of the fair, the changes that she helped implement reduced waste from six wheelie bins full of rubbish to only one quarter of one bin - and that was with a consistent 4,000 people attending.

What changes made the big difference?

On the second year of Jess’s involvement, the committee implemented sorting waste into different streams of plastics, aluminium and what could be composted. Still, six bins of waste were generated. On Jess’s third year with the organising team, the decision to make waste reduction a priority was the change needed to make a big waste reducing difference.

Every decision made from that point on had waste-free as a priority.

From low waste to no waste

All promotions for the fair carried the messaging that this was now a waste-free event. Everyone knew, when they walked through the gate, that there would be no single-use cups, no paper plates, not even bamboo cutlery. No single-use items at all!

Any vendors wanting to operate at the fair had to agree that any waste produced by their business was their responsibility.

Passion projects

Now that Jess’s children are no longer in school, her passion to reduce waste across our community continues.
Jess wanted to help others run no-waste events and created Waste Free Events. Jess has also taken on the issue of single-use coffee cups by becoming a reuse ambassador with Good Reusables, an organisation tackling single-use coffee cups.

Keeping motivated

When environmental news seems like nothing but bad news, Jess stays positive by knowing that if she can make a difference at her child’s school, her local coffee shop, and her workplace, these are small but tangible ways to make a difference.

Going that step further by encouraging others to take these same small actions can add up to positive impacts globally.

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