Spring Cleaning by the OFF group

Friday, 8 December 2023

Wow! What an amazing turnout for our very first Spring Cleaning event. From Monday 27 – Thursday 29 November staff were able to bring along unwanted goods from their offices and have them sorted, weighed, and recycled by members of the “Our Future Footprint” (OFF) Group.  

An impressive 529kg of items were collected, much of which has been rehomed, repurposed, or reused. An entire trailer-load of items were sorted and delivered to the Albury Recycling Centre and the Wodonga Resource Recovery Centre. The Halvewaste organisation assisted us with getting the most out of our resources, helping us sort out which items can be recycled and where.   

Sadly, a small amount of items were delivered to landfill as they were unable to be safely recycled. It is a timely reminder when making future purchases that we consider the lifetime use of the items, and lean towards products that fit within circular economy principles (able to be repurposed or recycled at the end of life).  It has been great to see this event spark conversations and thoughts around how we can recycle or repurpose the items around us, which in itself is a very positive step forward for our environment.

A huge thanks and congratulations to the members of the OFF Group who made this such a successful event, from manning the drop-off zone all week, to building custom trailer fit outs to move all the goods. Your efforts are greatly appreciated.  I’d also like to thank all the staff who made the effort to dig through their office spaces and contribute to the cleanup effort.  

If you are interested in joining the OFF group or have sustainability ideas, please contact Emma - Environmental Strategic Project Lead -  eodonovan@wodongatafe.edu.au