Festival to foster green habits

A FREE community event aimed at showcasing the region’s different environmental groups, initiatives, and offerings is returning next month for its fourth iteration.

Smart Living Ballarat’s annual Plastic Free Festival will take place at Alfred Deakin Place on Sunday 15 September with a range of organisations, stalls, and activities.

Co-organiser, Miree Hancock said the festival is about raising awareness around the different options available for people to take towards a greener future.

“This originated around the global movement of Plastic Free July, and we wanted to bring some essence of that to Ballarat,” she said.

“It’s about educating the public about how we can live a lifestyle that’s less reliant on plastic, particularly disposable single-use plastics.”

Organisations such as The Hidden Orchard, Green Earth Kids, Plastic Free Australia, and Ballarat Wholefoods Collective will have stalls, as well as other small local businesses and groups.

“We’ll have other stalls like candle making businesses and farms that do foods,” Ms Hancock said. “There’ll be at least 15 stalls there.”

Half a dozen short talks will also be held from representatives like BREAZE, City of Ballarat, and Ballarat Permaculture Guild. Live music, food, and door prizes will also feature.

Ms Hancock said she hopes the event will encourage attendees to adopt more environmentally-conscious lifestyle habits.

“The message is very similar each year. It’s think before you buy, and is there a better alternative that’ll have less of a carbon footprint on the environment?” she said.

“We’d love to especially see people who are at the start of their journey and don’t really know why they should avoid plastic, particularly families with kids.

“There’ll be a information stall about how long plastics take to break down and there’ll be a plastic-free sensory area for kids and activities for older children with interactive elements.”

Plastic Free Festival will run from 10am to 3pm.