H is for Healing Country, Hard Waste and Housing
Image: Close up of a lomandra seed head. The long strappy leaves are green, the seed heads golden with spikes.
Heal Country
This year’s NAIDOC week theme is ‘Heal Country’. Have you considered what we can do both as individuals and as a community to look after country here in Banyule. Local resident Megan has shared some of the everyday things that she does to responsibly look after country.
One way to heal country is to get involved with your local ‘Friends group’. Click here to find your nearest group.
Hard Waste
Did you know that in Banyule the majority of your Hard Rubbish ends up in landfill?
To begin to reimagine your hard rubbish we invite you to think about:
How can I repurpose/upcycle this? OR Is there a local group who may re-use this?
If it’s still functional – list it for free on local Freebies FB group or Buy Nothing Group
If you think it could be fixed or re-used as something else, but don’t have the time/money to do it – list in local groups first.
Some local groups we’ve found:
Facebook groups:
Banyule Hard Rubbish Rescue
Buy Nothing Heidelberg/Rosanna/Macleod/
Rough Trade 3081
Rough Trade 3087
‘The mum economy‘ for Briar Hill, Montmorency and Greensborough residents.
‘Freebies of Nillumbik and Banyule’
Bundoora Good Karma Group (Australia)
Many local community pages will also allow you to post free items on their page.
Non-facebook groups:
Take broken items to be fixed, e.g. fabric mending places, upholsterers; shoes to Boots for All Briar Hill; textiles to pet shelters, TACAS or local Boomerang Bag group.
Books and children’s toys – contact local toy library, contact local kinder/preschool, add to your local little (street) library, 3081 Angels will take things.
Mattresses
General info
https://recyclingnearyou.com.
https://recyclemymattress.com.
Recyclers – a small fee applies
Soft Landing https://softlanding.com.au/
Bed Collect https://bedcollect.com.au/
E-waste – can be put in recycling bins at local library branches. Larger items can be taken to Banyule Waste Station and put into the E-waste bin Or taken to Officeworks (call your local store before you go to check that they are a participating E-waste collection store).
Plastic plant pots – donate to Macleod Organic Community Garden.
See their requirements here https://www.facebook.com/
Image description: A photo of a collection of hard rubbish on the nature strip, a footpath in the background.
Contribution by Perri
Housing
Image: A young woman taking a selfie at an intergenerational family dinner. They are smiling.
Housing is about more than materials, its also about responsible use of space. For the last 12 years we (family of 4) have been privileged to live in a large 4 bedroom house in Watsonia. We couldn’t help but consider the poor utilisation of space so we advertised our spare rooms for rent and invited ‘HelpX’ helpers to live with us in exchange for help with projects around the house. This was a wonderful cultural exchange and we ended up with many wonderful memories and friends.
Here in Banyule we are also lucky to have an intentional co-housing community. For more info please see Murundaka Cohousing community.
Contribution by Che