Council Partnerships
KESAB worked closely with 12 Councils including the City of Unley, City of Tea Tree Gully, City of Port Lincoln, Port Pirie Regional Council, Kangaroo Island Council and all Councils serviced by the East Waste Management Authority in South Australia to support the delivery of quality waste and recycling education to residents.
A variety of programs, developed for Council’s education sites, businesses and the general community, were delivered by KESAB’s experienced and skilled education staff to enhance the community’s awareness and understanding of best waste and recycling practices.
‘Take the Pledge’ Program Port Pirie and Unley
Unley Gourmet Gala event
The City of Unley and Port Pirie Regional Council ‘Take the Pledge’ programs educate residents to divert food scraps and recyclable materials from the landfill bin and to reduce contamination levels in the recycling and organics bins.
Participating households are provided with a program sticker to place on their kerbside bin/s, which publicly demonstrates their commitment to send less to landfill, and encourages others to seek more information and participate in the program. If a participant’s bins are inspected, and they are found to be diverting as much as possible from landfill and limit contamination they are awarded with a voucher.
In its 4th year of delivery, Unley pledge registrations have reached over 1,700! A strong campaign consisting of face to face education, media promotion and bin tagging to get word into the community has encouraged participation. Port Pirie Pledge registrations have again doubled from the previous year with over 300 residents taking the pledge to send less to landfill in the Port Pirie Regional Council.
Over 100 residents were awarded vouchers over 3 rounds of inspections. Unley Council has seen a notable decrease of waste going to landfill since the inception of the program.
Zero Waste Events
KESAB Waste Education staff supported Unley Council to deliver a near waste-free Unley Gourmet Gala. Staff worked closely with Council, event staff, food vendors, volunteers and the event waste contractor to ensure best practices and procedures were in place prior to, during, and after the event. It was estimated 80% of waste produced was captured for recycling and composting as opposed to being sent to landfill. An excellent outcome for all involved. Go Unley!
Waste Audits and Assessments
KESAB has worked with industry and council over the past 12 months to support them with their waste management objectives. Partnerships have been formed with Commercial Retail Group (Frewville and Pasadena Foodland), Endeavour Drinks Group (BWS and Dan Murphy), Fleurieu Regional Waste Authority and Yorke Peninsula Council.
Food Organics Diversion on Kangaroo Island
KESAB has worked closely with Fleurieu Regional Waste Management Authority on Kangaroo Island to support 4 businesses to divert food waste from landfill.
The trial was conducted from May 2019 to June 2019 and involved providing a weekly green bin collection, compostable liners to capture food, a bin assessment to support business with bin placement and pre and post bin audits. Results have been promising with businesses diverting half of their food waste. Ongoing support will be provided to the businesses to capture all food organics going to landfill.
Endeavour Drinks Group
KESAB partnered with Colby Phillips Advisory to undertake 10 bin audits of BWS and Dan Murphy stores. Each store was provided with a comprehensive report with recommendations to divert waste from landfill.
Frewville Foodland
KESAB has formed a partnership with the Commercial Retail Group to support change of waste management and resource recovery practices in partnership with their customers. KESAB is a member of CRG packaging committee, providing expertise on best options for packaging.
A full waste audit and waste management plan has been completed for the Frewville store who are currently working through back of house and in-store changes. Watch this space.
Yorke Peninsula Council
Yorke Peninsula waste ready for auditing
Yorke Peninsula Council engaged KESAB to undertake an audit of their kerbside bins. One hundred bins from each stream were audited and provided council with data on the waste disposal behaviour of residents. Council said: “Went like clockwork. Not one phone call, extra request or complaint. Very well executed. The KESAB attention to detail really surprised me, the level of detail the report will go down too and the work ethic of the persons involved was exceptional. Really appreciate the effort those involved put in”.
Schools
One-on-One School Support
KESAB sees the benefit in working closely (one-on-one) with schools, providing them with a complete package supporting minimising waste to landfill. This also provides Council with valuable data to report on.
KESAB and the City of Unley teamed up to deliver focused 1-on-1 support to 4 schools in the City of Unley. Schools were selected based on involvement with sustainability education and sustainable practices at their site. Each school received a support package including excursions to waste and recycling facilities, incursions, a waste audit and / or assessment, education for students and staff as well as follow-up support to ensure the school had the ability to continue to work towards its sustainable goals.
Sites were enthusiastic to be involved in the program and use it as a leverage to become more sustainable. KESAB will continue to work with these sites in the future to support and encourage long-term change.
School Incursions
More than 120 incursions were delivered to education sites that benefitted from their Council’s partnership with KESAB. Subsidised incursions make it possible for education sites to access KESAB‘s resources and knowledge and to become mindful and sustainable citizens.
The Recycle Relay activity supports a practical application of waste and recycling knowledge. It can be used to assess students’ knowledge of correct separation of materials combining education and fitness!
Other incursions include papermaking to educate students on paper recycling and protecting the environment and the worm farm / composting workshop designed to provide students with a theoretical and practical understanding of composting and worm farm systems.
Community Tours & Other Activities
Waste and Recycling Presentations / Displays
KESAB Education staff have an extensive knowledge base in waste, recycling, litter prevention, resource recovery and separation systems. Workshops and information sessions provide a great opportunity for participants to ask lots of questions and take home fact sheets and information to share with others.
KESAB delivered over 20 fun and engaging sustainably focused workshops and information sessions to residents through Council Partnerships in the last financial year.
Beyond the Kerb Tours
KESAB delivered 19 ‘Beyond the Kerb’ Waste and Recycling Tours allowing over 185 residents from 7 Councils to see how waste and recycling is processed. Sites visited included Jeffries, VISY, Adelaide Resource Recovery, E-Cycle SA, Cleanaway and Integrated Waste Services. The tours provide residents with an opportunity to ask KESAB staff and experts at each waste and recycling facility questions about their waste.
Circular Economy Tours
KESAB also began running a new tour in 2018, which focusses on businesses in SA that are working to close the loop on the circular economy. Sites visited included Jeffries, Statewide Recycling, Replas, Advanced Plastic Recycling, Suez ResourceCo, Adelaide Resource Recovery and Electronic Recycling Australia. To date, over 65 residents from 4 Councils have attended ‘Circular Economy’ tours, with excellent feedback.
Community Workshops
Clarence Park ‘Sustainable May’ Workshop Series
KESAB organised 6 free community workshops this year for Clarence Park Community Centre (Unley Council). These workshops included a recycling presentation, a ‘beeswax wrap making’ workshop, ‘DIY cleaning and personal care products’ workshop, ‘cooking with food scraps’ workshop, ‘gardening in small spaces’ workshop and ‘worm farming and composting’ workshop. There were over 105 attendees in total, with many of the workshops reaching the maximum capacity.
Other Community Workshops
Two beeswax wrap workshops were run at the Unley Library (both booked out with a total of 45 attendees), and a ‘plastic free’ presentation and cooking with food scraps workshop were run at the Unley Community Centre, reaching a total of 30 residents.
Four beeswax wrap making workshops were run at the Gumeracha Community Centre as part of their school holiday program, all of which were booked out at 20 participants each session (80 participants in total).
Tea Tree Gully Waste Awareness Campaign
As part of the Tea Tree Gully Waste Awareness Campaign, 6 hands-on workshops were organised including beeswax wrap making, papermaking and DIY cleaning and personal care product workshops, plus two ‘Lift the Right Lid’ recycling presentations.