Sustainable events in Noosa quietly hit a new milestone in mid-October with the TriAdventures Wild Women Event, held at Habitat Noosa, Elanda Point.
This was Noosa’s first Zero-Waste event – and they achieved it with distinction.
In fact, this trailblazing event has another first. Started in 2012, it was the first All Female adventure race in Australia.
Jan and Kim are passionate about empowering women, personal fitness and their natural environment. This includes taking care of the places they cherish and Habitat Noosa was the perfect location for their next adventure race.
A zero-waste event is one that diverts all of its waste from landfill.
With the assistance of Tourism Noosa and Plastic Free Noosa, the event and partners were able to ensure that waste was first minimised and any unavoidable waste created by the event was either recycled or composted.
This included taking sustainable measures such as banning single-use water bottles, eliminating disposable coffee cups, and recycling the small amount of soft plastic created through REDCycle.
These initiatives were fully supported by the competitors.
“I know that events are looking to become more sustainable now and I definitely think that’s the way to go. There is no need to have hundreds and thousands of plastic cups when you can carry your own water. I am more than happy to do that way,” competitor Rebeca Call said.
This event wasn’t the start of race directors Jan and Kim’s sustainability journey. They have been encouraging participants to bring keep cups to their events for years now.
To further reduce their impacts, they utilise reusable race bibs (not disposable numbers), provide waterproof maps (eliminating the need for contact) and continue to look for innovative ways to be lighter on the planet.
“Working with such engaged and passionate people at a sustainable venue, makes our job really easy,” Plastic Free Noosa’s Chad Buxton said.
“They are taking the lead and deserve all the credit for championing these efforts. We are simply facilitating the conversation and lending a hand where we can.”
Juanita from Tourism Noosa said: “As part of our enhanced Sustainable Event Criteria, all of Tourism Noosa’s sponsored events are required to follow stricter conditions for their environmental sustainability – I am excited that the Wild Woman event this year surpassed all expectations and shows how well it can be done”.
It was inspiring to see 140 competitors and their support crew congregate from all over Australia in a beautiful natural place, to support each other and engage in friendly competition.
They left with great memories and a light impact.
