Wollongong City Council is doing things differently this New Year’s Eve with a push towards reducing single-use plastic waste at the event.
Acorn Lawyers’ New Year’s Eve is one of the city’s biggest events with over 20,000 attendees anticipated to join in the fun. Avoiding waste, increasing resource recovery and reducing our community’s environmental footprint is a big focus for this year’s event.
“Our summer events are taking the first step towards getting rid of single-use plastic,” Wollongong City Lord Mayor Councillor Gordon Bradbery AM said. “You will notice that stallholders are swapping plastic containers, forks and straws for environmentally friendly alternatives.”
“Attendees can also do their part by bringing along a reusable water bottle, coffee cup and reusable bags as well as making sure they put their rubbish in the right bin. It’s only a small change, but if everyone takes part, it will make a big difference.”
Water stations are available and there will be red (general waste), yellow (recyclables) and green (organics) bins throughout the event site. Green Connect will also be at the event to help make sure rubbish goes in the right bin and waste to landfill is reduced.
For both New Year’s Eve and Australia Day, stallholders have been asked not to use single-use plastics such as:
- Single-use plastic bags
- Balloons of any kind
- Plastic drinking straws
- Plastic cutlery, bowls and plates
- Polystyrene of any kind
Overwhelmingly, the stallholders have indicated their support for this approach.
“This change reflects the ideals of our local community to look after our local environment and to help combat the ever growing volume of plastic debris along our coastline,” said Cr Bradbury.
Wollongong City Council has been working with the Boomerang Alliance as part of the ongoing Plastic Free Wollongong program which aims to avoid the use of single-use plastics locally.
