Be a super sorter at this year’s Ballarat Begonia Festival

Visitors to this year’s Ballarat Begonia Festival are being encouraged to be a super sorter and put their waste in the right place.

A special Sustainable Environment Ballarat stall at the festival, run by the City of Ballarat, will feature a fun, educational and interactive game that challenges participants to correctly sort their waste into the four waste streams – general waste, recycling, garden organics and glass.

Placing items into the correct bin prevents contamination including general recyclables, garden organics and glass. Contamination contributes to more waste going to landfill.

At the 2023 Begonia Festival, 2.1 tonnes of general waste and 5.3 tonnes of recyclables were collected, highlighting the importance of effective waste management.

City of Ballarat Mayor, Cr Des Hudson tested out the new interactive game with local children recently.

Cr Hudson said the game, set to be featured at the Sustainable Environment Ballarat stall, is a fun way for both kids and adults to test their super sorting skills to win prizes and be a champion for the environment.

“I encourage everyone to come along, test out their sorting powers and be a super sorter who is working to help save the environment,” he said.

“The better we sort our waste, the more we can recycle and that means less waste that goes into landfill – and more waste being reused and repurposed.

"It’s never been more important to reduce and reuse our waste and this game is one out of a range of fantastic sustainability initiatives taking place at this year’s Begonia Festival.”

Sustainability initiatives at the Begonia Festival include:

• Six waste stations located across the festival site with staff available to help guide patrons to dispose of their waste into the correct bin – including general waste, recycling, garden organics and glass.
• All packaging sold from food vendors and stallholders will be recyclable or compostable.
• Local company ‘GroundUp Coffee Recyclers’ will collect the used coffee grounds from the coffee vendors, which will then be delivered to regenerative and small-scale farmers in the Ballarat region.

At the Sustainable Environment Ballarat stall, visitors will be able to talk to the City of Ballarat’s Sustainable Environment and Circular Economy teams about waste disposal and recycling as well as the new weekly Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) kerbside collection set to arrive in 2025.

Visitors will also be able to register for the Nature Stewards program, find out about upcoming community consultation for the Draft Biodiversity Strategy, sign up for the City of Ballarat’s new Sustainable Environment Ballarat e-newsletter, and learn more about the State Government’s Container Deposit Scheme.

Ballarat Begonia Festival visitors can also do their bit to reduce their environmental impact by bringing their own shopping bags and keep cups for tea or coffee.

Patrons are also encouraged to bring their reusable drink bottle and fill it up for free at one of the water points in the gardens or purchase an aluminium drink bottle from Begonia Festival community partner Central Highlands Water.

The sustainability focus of the Ballarat Begonia Festival aligns with Goal 1 of the Council Plan 2021-2025: An environmentally sustainable future.

The 72nd annual Ballarat Begonia Festival will be held at the Ballarat Botanical Gardens across the Labour Day long weekend (9-11 March). For more information or to see the full festival program, visit ballaratbegoniafestival.com.