Support Keep Australia Beautiful Week

With only just over half the total 43.5 million tonnes of waste Australians produce each year being recycled, we all need to find ways to help increase the amount of waste we reuse and recycle instead of simply throwing it away.

Whilst around 90% of households have access to kerbside recycling and 99% of people say they are participating in some form of re‑use or recycling at home, we continue to produce waste at unsustainable levels.

A major challenge for us all is to find ways that we can recycle more when we are away from home. By recycling more when we are out and about, it means our rubbish can instead be recycled into new products. This reduces our use of natural resources and means less rubbish in landfill.

Many councils, venues and businesses are introducing public place recycling bins, so it’s up to us all to do our bit and start recycling our empty drink bottles and cans, rather than throwing them in the rubbish bin. And, if you can’t find a public recycling bin nearby, then make the small but valuable effort to take your empty containers home for recycling.

As part of their involvement in Keep Australia Beautiful Week, Principal Sponsor Hungry Jack’s will be launching a three-month beverage container recycling trial with the support of Coca- Cola. Look out for the brightly coloured recycling bins in selected Hungry Jack’s stores, as well as other public place recycling bins in your local area.

Check out the KAB Week website pages to download a wide range of tips and resources to help ensure you are recycling right, and to find out what your rubbish is being ‘reincarnated’ into.

You can also be a get involved by organising a litter count in your neighbourhood and organise a Tidy up. Click here to see how.

Dynamic Duo Makes a Difference!

Homeless Connect Brisbane has helped over 4,200 people by coordinating businesses and community groups twice annually, providing free services to individuals who are homeless, at risk of homelessness or do not have secure accommodation. Around 700 people attend each Homeless Connect event and goods and services provided by generous partners, sponsors and volunteers include medical care, legal advice, accommodation, personal grooming and clothes.

Kevin and Neru - the dynamic duo - have been volunteering at Homeless Connect and now tells their story of how they have been serving Brisbane!

Tell us, what did you do?
Neru & I take part in Homeless Connect every 6 months. On 11 May, we took part again, and this was our third contribution. Being a dentist, Neru provides free dental consultation while I assist her in the administrative and coordination work.

What were some of the highlights for you?
Seeing people who are homeless who do not usually receive any positive attention really appreciating the work we are doing. We've been seeing some of them in church too which has been a great spin off. Its nice for them to be in a community that really cares for them and love them.

What valuable lessons did you learn?
We were able to understand the homeless better and see the benefits of this experience in enabling us to build UNIDUS community service in future. We would definitely recommend this to other groups when it comes up in the future.
Just go to www.homelessconnect.com.au to find out when the next event is!

Kevin and Neru - you have both contributed 12 hours towards 500 hours of serving Brisbane!

Lighthouse Acting Local + Global

Lighthouse - the young adults group of the Ablaze Service have been rolling up their sleeves to put their actions where their mouths are - by serving Brisbane. But their cause is two-pronged - serving Brisbane in a really practical way, and fundraising for a Global Cause. Find out more as Melissa Ke, one of Lighthouse's community service coordinator tells us the story.

What did you guys do?
Essentially, we had a two-pronged approach - contributing towards both a local and global cause.

We cleaned up a park in Inala (which included scrubbing the dirty BBQ pit until it was squeaking clean!). After the clean up, we cooked a up simple BBQ and played some games as our well-earned treats!! So it was good for bonding and fellowship too!

People contributed $5 towards the event. Half of that went towards costs of the BBQ, and half went towards building a house in the Watoto Village to help build homes for orphans in Uganda.

What were some of the highlights of the day?
Getting together to focus on others - to serve our community and impacting a community overseas. We had a lot of fun having a small competition to see which group would collect the most trash and there were bags full! We got to get rid of sharp objects, broken beer bottles - just to name a few dangerous items in a family park!

Would you recommend this activity for another group?
YES! It is simple to organise, creates awareness about both global and local issues. It is something groups can keep doing in different local parks. It was relatively cheap to execute. Administration wise, it was also quite easy! All in all a great activity to bring the group together!

Any low-lights of the day?
The day was so fun and rewarding we wish more people would have come! Especially more friends of our members. (We had 20 attend on the day).



Congratulations Lighthouse! You've contributed 80 hours towards 500 hours of serving Brisbane!