Kicking the plastic habit is not only giving our planet a break, it’s making good business sense. To celebrate Plastic Free July, meet the entrepreneurs and business folk who are innovating, designing and educating in our local patch to help create a plastic-free world for us all.

"Children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way”, sang Whitney Houston in one of her all-time favourite songs. And it certainly seems that learning good habits while young is far easier than un-learning bad habits when we are older.

Heroes don’t always wear capes. They are usually amongst us, doing their bit to make this world a better place. You’re probably one of them…!

Not yet, but there’s been a flurry of positive action since the ABC’s recent TV series hit our screens six months ago.  With over 3.7 million viewers, the three-part series shone a light on the stuff we consume and throw away, hitting a raw nerve with the nation. 

Interview with Seb Berry, Found of the TODAY App and FutureKind

Ever felt helpless in the face of big problems challenging our society? Climate change, environmental degradation, plastic pollution. Keen to make a positive contribution to the health of our world, but not sure where to start? You aren’t alone. Meet Bondi local, Seb Berry: Five years ago he felt the same way and set on a path to help himself and others take action, one day at a time.

Seb didn’t feel like he was doing ‘enough’ to show up and use his position of privilege in the world. “I wanted to focus on what was important and live with more purpose, but didn’t know how to,” says Seb.

Like all passionate change-makers he threw himself into a new project to create the TODAY app.

Here’s the low-down from my catch-up with Seb:

It’s that time of the year when the gardeners amongst us emerge to tackle neglected green patches. We prune, trim, plant, mow, and clip. And weed. Many of us curse (and relish) removing weeds that have flourished in winter.

Yet, contrary to popular belief, not all weeds are evil. A weed is just a plant growing in a place where it is unwanted. In fact, many of your stubborn garden weeds can have benefits.

Here’s the ‘dirt’ on why many garden-variety weeds can be happily left in the ground, under control. 

With recent electricity prices soaring up to 30-40 per cent for many residents, it’s no surprise that solar power is on homeowners’ minds. Making free green energy on your own rooftop helps take back control of power bills.

With the highest rates of household solar power installation in the world, Australian’s are living up to their reputation as ‘sun-lovers’. Around 1.7 million Aussie homes now have rooftop solar, and numbers are growing. Low prices, climate change awareness, quality systems and killer bills are driving factors in this rooftop revolution.

Thinking about getting a slice of the sun-kissed action to reduce your energy bills? Check out these facts to help make your decision. 

Walk down a supermarket aisle or peer into the pantry, and it’s pretty clear a plastic-free world is a distant dream. Especially with the plethora of hard-to-avoid soft plastics and packaging. So is there a planet-friendly solution?

Following on from ABC’s War on Waste and Plastic Free July, we’ve sought expert advice from Liz Kasell, Founder and Director of REDcycle, who set up a dedicated recycling business five years ago to help address this very question. 

Whichever way you cut it, we always wind up with stuff we don’t need – in our garage, cupboards and attic. It makes moving house a more frustrating endeavour.  For some, it’s a buzz to offload unwanted junk from a declutter mission. Where does it all go?

Unfortunately, some of it winds up on our streets and in our parks. Against the law (you can get whacked with fines up to $1500), dumped rubbish makes our beautiful ‘hood a lot less awesome, causes havoc in our waterways, and costs stacks in clean-up costs. It stinks, often quite literally!

According to recent NSW EPA research, most Council areas are dealing with up to 100 dumped rubbish incidents a year, and around one in 10 spend more than a whopping half a million dollars annually on prevention, monitoring and enforcement of illegal dumping. That’s dosh that could be instead funnelled into better facilities and improved services locally.

But it needn’t be this way. Check out these handy reuse and recycling options to dispose of your bulky waste sustainably.  You never can tell what trash (for cash) will be someone else’s treasure!