Street Champions Patrick & Kate.
Project: Community Recycling Station
Suburb: Semaphore, South Australia
Patrick and Kate are Street Champions who started a community recycling drop-off station on their street. They already collected various tricky items for recycling in our home such as batteries, e-waste and light globes.
They had the idea that, why just take our own waste? Why not collect it from our community and also recycle it on their behalf?
The project was simple. Install a bin at our front gate with some good signage and wait and see what happened.
In less than 2 hours the bin was used so they had a feeling they were onto something
Every few days they empty the bin and stockpile the materials in our garage until they have enough to justify dropping them off at the various recycle points. They are careful to combine drop off’s with other tasks to reduce any impacts from taking dedicated drives to drop off the recycling.
The bin has been on the street for 12 months and they have collected
45kg of ewaste, 42kg batteries, 16kg of xrays, 412 light globes
“It makes so much sense that we work together as a community as we all benefit.”
Patrick and Kate, what’s your best piece of advice for anyone embarking on an ‘In Our Street’ project?
“Give it a go as you will be surprised how many people are keen to be involved in community projects once there is the option
Many of us are a little nervous or want things to be perfect before starting but anything is better than nothing.
A simple bin and a sign was all it took to get this project happening.”
What has this project meant to you?
“It has been a fantastic way to involve ourselves with our community and give back to a place we love dearly.
It makes so much sense that we work together as a community as we all benefit.
Why should all of us drive across town and drop off all this recycling when one person can put their hand up and do it saving everyone so much time and effort.
As this is my passion I haven’t felt burdened by this project either. It feels great to help others help the environment.”