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Darebin Pitch It is back and bigger than ever!
Got a business idea to benefit our community? Can you pitch it in under 10 minutes? Darebin City Council is seeking applications for innovative business ideas focussed on sustainability or social impact. Get your team together or apply as an individual.
The top 10 ideas for both categories will be invited to our Pitch It days in March 2020, with ten ideas selected to enter the intense accelerator program. Finalists will then battle it out at the grand final for the chance to share in over $50,000 in investment.
Applications open Friday 20 December 2019 and close Friday 6 March 2020.
Stay tuned to the Darebin Business Facebook page for updates on how to apply.
Image: 2019 Darebin Pitch It winners, Ryan Tilley (right) and Huy Nguyen (left), co-founders of Gecko Traxx.
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Reduce waste and Recycle Right this holiday season
Over the festive season we buy, eat and celebrate more than at any other time of the year. This adds up to a lot more waste. Take some time to be mindful of how you can reduce waste (and save money) these holidays – it’s easier than you think:
- Avoid buying too much. Be unique and buy second-hand or make your gifts by hand. Other great ideas are experiences, vouchers or tickets.
- Re-use last year’s wrapping paper for presents or use alternatives like newspaper, magazines, comics, fabric or even tea towels! Reusable fabric sacks can be used to wrap presents again and again.
- Recycle Right. All cardboard, hard plastic packaging and wrapping paper from presents can go in your recycling bin. Don’t forget to recycle your foil baking trays (rolled into a ball), glass bottles and jars too.
- Put your food waste to good use. If you have a green waste bin you can now add food waste including fruit and vegetable scraps, meat, bones and leftovers, along with your garden waste to be recycled. For more information and to order a food and green waste bin visit darebin.vic.gov.au/foodwaste
Visit darebin.vic.gov.au/recycling for advice on what can go in your recycling bin. Remember, you can fit more in by squeezing, squashing and flattening all recycling.
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Food waste recycling update
Darebin residents Frank and Susie have been using their green waste bins to recycle food waste – including fruit and vegetable scraps, meat scraps, leftovers, coffee grounds and loose tea leaves – since the start of October.
“I love it! I get an ice cream container, and put all the scraps in it, and when it’s full Frank takes it out," Susie said.
This food and green waste is transformed into nutrient rich compost at the Veolia Organics Recovery Facility in Bulla, to be used on farms and gardens across Victoria.
Frank and Susie layer their food and green waste bin with weeds and other dry garden waste to keep the bin fresh and odour free. Here are some other tips for keeping your food and green waste bin happy as the weather warms up:
- Wrap your food waste in a few layers of newspaper or paper towel before putting it in the bin.
- If you have seafood and meat scraps, try keeping them in the freezer until collection day.
- Sprinkle bi-carb soda to reduce any smells.
- Store bins in a shaded and well-ventilated area with the lid closed and give them a rinse from time to time.
For more tips and tricks head to darebin.vic.gov.au/foodwaste.
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2020 Recycling Calendar
Be New Year ready and download your 2020 Recycling Calendar now. It has all the information you need to keep track of your recycling and food and green waste collection dates throughout the year.
Before you download your recycling calendar, check if you’re in the East or West collection zone here. Then download your East or West 2020 Recycling Calendar here.
If you would like a hard copy of the calendar mailed to you, please call Darebin's customer service team on 8470 8888.
Remember - there will be no bin collections on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. Bins will be collected one day later in the weeks of Christmas and New Year’s Day.
For more information about Council’s recycling services visit www.darebin.vic.gov.au/recycling
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National Recycling Week wrap up
A big thank you to those who attended the National Recycling Week excursion to the Material Recovery Facility.
We learned how recyclables are sorted using fascinating technology, including wind, magnets and vibration. We were also reminded of the importance of rethinking consumption, and the role that the community plays in order to close the loop.
For those that missed the excursion this time, we will be organising another one, so stay tuned. Council has also made a series of videos to help the community learn better recycling habits, which you can watch on Council's YouTube channel.
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CERES Fair Food and Fair Wood – a Darebin sustainable business story
Local social enterprises CERES Fair Food and Fair Wood are retailers of organic fruit and vegetables and local, sustainably sourced timber, and are one example of the many inspiring sustainable businesses in Darebin. Watch this video to find out how they are reducing energy, waste and single use plastics whilst supporting sustainable food and wood production.
CERES Fair Wood, won Council's Pitch It competition in 2018. Their participation in this program and the financial support offered to them as winners enabled them to become an operational social enterprise.
Both CERES Fair Wood and Fair Food employ people seeking asylum, new arrivals and others who are doing it tough. They are also committed to buying locally and actively seek to support Victorian farmers, grocery makers and suppliers.
You can watch all of Darebin's sustainable business videos on Council's YouTube channel.
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