Clothing swap to battle waste

UPCYCLE, recycle, and revamp your clothes at the Women Against Waste’s upcoming community event next month.

It’s “a women’s clothes swap re-imagined for the climate crisis,” said Women Against Waste’s founder Tania Goranitis.

La Vergne Lehmann, executive officer of the Grampians Central West Waste and Resource Recovery Group; Bethany Alice, seamstress and designer; and Ana Fernanda Covarrubias, eco-fashion designer stylist will be speakers.

They’ll be discussing topics like glass recycling, the slow fashion movement, demonstrating clothing repair solutions before the clothes swap commences.

Australians send around $500 million worth of fashion clothing to the tip each year, yet over 95 per cent of it can be recycled and reused, according to the Council of Textile and Fashion Industries of Australia.

“We can be doing more,” said WAW Ambassador Natasha Driscoll. “While every policy is great policy, there needs to be more action taken. We need to do more to make drastic change.”

Ms Driscoll said WAW’s focus went beyond just fashion, with the group looking at what improvements can be made across the recycling stream.

The Victorian the Resource Recovery Infrastructure Fund has been boosted to more than $21 million to support recycling infrastructure development.

“We should definitely be doing the container deposit scheme, and looking at strategies of non-optional recycling,” Ms Driscoll said. “If a million women make changes in their lives, it’s better than one person doing everything.”

The event will run from 1 to 4pm on Sunday October 6 at the Eastwood Leisure Centre.

Tickets are $20 for this women-only event, you can book at eventbrite.com.au/e/ballarat-women-against-waste-event-tickets-71885293849.