Learning life skills, reducing waste

SUSTAINABLE skills will be taught to young people by young people this weekend as the Ballarat Action Climate Co-Op leads a free punk arts workshop.

Attendees will learn how to make reusable bees wax food wraps and punk bags from fabric scraps, how to knit, mend clothes, and upcycle materials into art.

BACC member Marco Pasakos said thousands of kilograms of textile waste are put into landfill every 10 minutes across Australia.

The workshop is an opportunity for the next generation to learn ways to reduce this waste in a fun way, while gaining “vital” life skills.

“We’re teaching mending, crochet and knitting so young people can express themselves creatively in sustainable ways, through using recycled and upcycled materials,” he said.

“We, as a society, as a nation, need to lessen our total carbon footprint. Any small, individual actions might feel not so important, but they actually really are.

“Through the workshop, we’re aiming to empower young people to make decisions to lessen their carbon footprint, which could simply be making the choice to buy less clothes.”

The workshop will be held this Saturday, 2 July at the community hall at 212 Ripon Street South, beside the Food is Free Green Space.

Food is Free and BACC received an ABC Heywire youth innovation grant and are delivering the workshop with this funding support.

“We’re focusing on sustainable living, upcycling, reduction of waste and reusing,” Food is Free secretary Katja Fiedlersaid. “The workshop is a fun thing to do in the school holidays, and there will be free pizza.”