By Margaret Maccoll
Boomerang Bags Noosa (BBN) will use its hard-earned knowledge to assist others when Sunshine Coast BB groups converge on Saturday 20 May from 1-5pm at the Mudjimba Community Hall.
BBN project manager Desire Gralton said the success of the initiative could be directly attributed to a grassroots movement of people who had recognised the huge environmental impact of single use plastic bags and wanted to put a stop to it.
“Since its inception in October 2015, BBN has produced close to 3000 bags, preventing the use of thousands of plastic bags while recycling fabrics that would have otherwise ended up in landfill,” she said.
“It has been a strict learning curve for our group to fit the model into the needs of the Noosa community, particularly dealing with a largely transient community as tourists come and go. We learnt early on that the initial Borrow and Bring Back concept did not work here – the bags make great souvenirs and tourists wouldn’t be repeat customers to a particular store.
“We were excited by the prospect of providing bags at the new IGA in Peregian, but when 750 bags walked out the door in less than month, we realised that as a small, volunteer-based community, we just couldn’t keep up with the demand of bigger stores. The Borrow and Bring Back concept has slightly changed to Borrow and Reuse.”
Desire believes the key to Boomerang Bags success is to stay small and to focus on shops that are already trying to do the right thing.
More than 250 BB communities connect via Facebook, and the Sunshine Coast hosts BB communities in Noosa, Pomona, Yandina, Caloundra, Glass House Mountains and Beerwah.
To register for the event, email info@boomerangbags.org or call 0410 552 025.
