This World Environment Day join us in the global effort to #BeatPlasticPolution

World Environment day 2023 is an opportunity to take time to think about how people's actions on plastic pollution matters.

The United Nations estimates that more than 400 million tonnes of plastic are produced every year worldwide, half of which is designed to be used only once. Of that, less than 10 per cent is recycled. Plastic pollution can have devastating impacts on our ecosystems, wildlife, and our health and wellbeing as a community. 

We recognise that everyone has a role to play in reducing plastic waste, and while we focus as an organisation on the big challenges of reducing plastic waste and redirecting waste from landfill, we're inspired by the actions of our residents and team in their local Care Communities.

Reduce, reuse and recycle!

Inspired by David Attenborough's "A life on our planet" documentary series that looks at humanity's impact on nature, residents at Springwood Greens Care Community wanted to do something positive in response to the detrimental impacts of consumerism and loss of native habitats demonstrated in the program. 

Our residents brainstormed potential environment initiatives for the Care Community and saw this as an opportunity to implement a rigorous recycling program to help redirect waste away from landfill. Recyclable materials are now sorted into a number of hired skips and a number of new, smaller recycling bins are now in place inside the building. Now, instead of unnecessarily contributing to landfill, a considerable number of plastics, tin, glass and clothing are being diverted to recycling and re-use, and food scraps from the kitchen go into composting bins for use in gardening.

Changing habits for good

During the pandemic, our team at North Lakes Terrace Care Community in Queensland noticed a significant increase in the amount of plastic-bottled water being consumed by our team and residents. This was partly for convenience, and partly in response to managing Covid outbreaks and the need to stay well-hydrated while wearing PPE.

To make it easy for residents and our team to help themselves to chilled water, and reduce the amount of plastic being used, they installed easily accessible drinking fountains throughout the Care Community.

With chilled water ‘on tap’, not only has plastic waste been reduced, so has the need for bottled water deliveries, which contribute to Scope 3 emissions. A simple and effective solution to a common problem – that makes a difference.

Learn more about our Social Impact Goals for 2023-2025 which focus on continual improvement while building towards best practice in sustainability.