Interview with Alex van Os of Op Shop to Runway

Sydney eco-stylist to the stars and op-shop devotee Alex van Os from Op Shop to Runway has a passion for pre-loved fashion. She’s worked on the style teams for popular Australian TV programs including The Bachelor, I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, Home and Away, and The Voice, and has a growing fan-base on Instagram.  

We talk to her about her love for vintage and pre-loved fashion, her tips for seeking out the best finds and why she’s on a mission to change the fashion industry, one of the biggest polluting industries in the world.

It’s party time - for all local and Aussie home composters and worm farm-ers! This month we celebrate the 10^th anniversary of the now-national Compost Revolution program.

From humble beginnings as a pilot in Sydney’s eastern suburbs to help reduce food waste with community composting stations and face to face workshops, the program can now lay claim to turning over 60,000 households’ food waste into free fertiliser for gardens across Australia every week.

HIP HIP HOORAY to that!

Melbourne girl and co-founder of the global digital platform Good on You, Sandra Capponi is a pioneering force in the field of sustainable fashion.

She was crowned one of the world's top-50 "badass women" last year by America’s InStyle magazine, alongside pop star Rihanna, 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg and Google CFO Ruth Porat. The list celebrates women from around the world who are driving change in fields such as science, social justice and politics.

Best-selling author, philanthropist, speaker, passionate sustainability advocate and local resident Sarah Wilson shares her top tips in reducing food waste (and a delicious whole of soup recipe).

With many of us suddenly confined to our homes for some time into the future, our household waste and recycling bins could fill quickly. Think food scraps, plastics and packaging. Here are some easy ways to keep household waste under control in these challenging times.

Savage Garden, Plant Life and D.I.G aren’t just musical acts: they’re also the names given to some of the edible gardens in the eastern suburbs as part of an urban farming movement in our backyards and on our balconies.

Keen to try surfing but don’t own a board? Need to drill a hole in a wall or trim a hedge but don’t own the necessary power tools?

Imagine being able to borrow these items for tasks you only do now and then, rather than splash some cash to get them. Community-run tool and other sharing ‘libraries’ help save you money, and kick goals for the planet.

What does a local mum, writer and high school student-come-plastics campaigner have in common? They are ordinary yet extraordinary women making it their mission to rid the world of single-use plastics.

With Plastic Free July just around the corner, we talked to these female change-makers about their paths in inspiring others to make plastic-free living second nature.

Did you know over 24,000 of your neighbours in the Eastern Suburbs are recycling their food scraps at home?

These local everyday heroes are kicking some serious goals in the ‘war on waste’. They’ve kept well over 3 million kilograms of food waste out of the tip (think 18 million bananas), plus almost 6 kilotons of carbon emissions out of the atmosphere. Nice one!

So why is everyone composting?

Dumped rubbish on our streets is an ongoing issue for us in Bondi and surrounds. Aside from fining offenders, how else can we tackle this issue head-on? 

Read below for how Waverley Council has been working to address this in a few ways, by building community pride in our neighbourhoods and beautifying spaces. 

Waverley Council has partnered with Wayside Chapel to trial temporary street gardens to reduce illegal dumping near the Warners Avenue Op Shop. The verge site on Niblick Street and Warners was chosen after persistent dumping had been reported to Council by members of the public and documented by our waste enforcement staff.