Climate change awareness has been in the forefront of the community this year and Noosa Civic Shopping Centre is once again getting behind the cause this Christmas, encouraging shoppers to brush up on their knowledge about plastic use. More than 30 million toothbrushes are bought, used and then discarded every year in Australia, amounting to approximately 1,000 tonnes of landfill annually.
Centre Manager Monica Lord said that while toothbrushes were not the first thing we think about when considering our use of plastic, the staggering statistic is based on each Australian throwing out only two 20-gram toothbrushes a year so is probably conservative.
“It’s important to remember that the plastic toothbrush you used this morning won’t even break down in your lifetime, so you can only imagine how many plastic toothbrushes are still in our environment,” said Lord.
“These toothbrushes often end up in our waterways — something we are very passionate about here in Noosa — so it seemed fitting that our Christmas promotion this year aimed to encourage a small change that can make a huge difference in the fight to protect and sustain our beautiful environment. All the funds raised through the sale of our #KeepNoosaBeautiful bamboo travel cases, which include two bamboo toothbrushes, will go to the Noosa Integrated Catchment Association (NICA), which does such a great job of caring for our waterways”, she said.
Bamboo toothbrushes are safe for the environment
“This is about supporting a local cause and hopefully also driving change. We hope that once our customers experience bamboo for themselves, we can help shift the move away from plastic.
Cutting out disposable plastic bags last year was just the start of Queensland’s journey to being more sustainable, we now need to make wise choices about our other plastic usage and toothbrushes is a good place to start”, she said.
NICA Chairman Bruce Hallett said the non-for-profit organisation was always thrilled be the recipient of the funding which will go a long way in helping their environment projects.
“NICA was formed more than 20 years ago as a community group dedicated to helping sustain the region’s environment by fostering responsible land and water management in the Noosa River catchment,” said Hallett.
“We now have a number of projects that our workers and volunteers put their heart and soul into, dedicated to making a difference. Plastic is by far the biggest contributor to the environmental issues we face and our volunteers are constantly cleaning up rubbish from the waterways, so Noosa Civic’s initiative not only helps with funding it’s also very important to raise awareness.
Plastic toothbrushes have a huge impact on Australia’s waterways
There is an enormous waste issue worldwide and Australia is far from immune to it. Australia’s plastic consumption in 2016-17 was more than 3 million tonnes with only 11.8% being recycled – that’s a lot of plastic”, he said.
“We’d like to thank Noosa Civic for once again supporting us and encourage their customers to come and see us at our booth to make the transition to bamboo — not only for their own families but these travel packs make great gifts too!
Lord said the recent arrival of Santa at the centre had very much started the countdown to Christmas, and along with it a real buzz amongst shoppers.
“Christmas is always an exciting time at the centre and this combined with the knowledge that every cent we raise through our bamboo toothbrushes will go back into supporting local environmental projects makes it even better,” said Lord.
“We encourage the community to think twice and choose our $5 bamboo pack over plastic by visiting NICA’s Christmas pop-up booth within the centre this festive season starting from today”, Lord said.
Noosa Civic Shopping centre will be a one-stop shop for people this Christmas with Santa photos, Meet and Greet with Santa, a Santa Letter Writing Zone, and Story Time as well plenty of places to find a perfect gift.
