Local Actions Have Global Consequences 

The Benalla Sustainable Future Group was established in 2010 by Benalla & District residents concerned about
​environmental sustainability and the lack of action on climate change both locally & nationally. 
​By coming together we can work towards a more sustainable future & a cleaner planet. 

Benalla Food Co-operative - Farewell Inaugural Member, Val Stafford

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Click on image to find out more about the Benalla Food Co-op!
FAREWELL INAUGURAL MEMBER, VAL STAFFORD
As an inaugural member of the food co-op, Val Stafford has been a member for 15 years! 
Val’s involvement has included being responsible for a huge order every year, supplying the Uniting Church with the ingredients to make up to 45 Christmas cakes to sell at the Benalla Festival. 
Rhona has a fond memory of visiting Val’s home one December and seeing Christmas cakes galore. 
Val has decided not to renew her membership this year.  Val, we will miss your cheerful company, support and your Christmas cakes. 
BENALLA COMMUNITY FOOD COLLECTIVE SURVEY
Thank-you to all food co-op members who took the time to complete the Benalla Community Food Relief Survey during August.  The information you provided assists  the Benalla Community Food Collective (BCFC) to manage, monitor and improve food relief in our LGA.  

Keep it out of Landfill!  WasteWise Benalla's lists of recycling locations now have QR codes

Download PDF Here

'Keep it out of Landfill' 

WasteWise Benalla  has a new QR-code linked page 'Keep it out of Landfill' on this website!   A quick way to access -
  • Recycling Deposit Points in Benalla - Listing 
  • Op Shops in Benalla - Items Accepted​ ​

Benalla Rural City Waste App

Have you downloaded the Benalla Rural City Waste App?  As well as being able to check which bin goes out , its A to Z tells you which item goes into which bin.

Even better is the little black pin which indicates where the item can be directed for the best outcome.
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Wastewise Benalla is continually updating the ideas for this app. Give it a try next time you are wondering where an item should go!

WasteWise Benalla has its own FB page!

Weekly tips are being posted by BSFG's Waste Wise Action Group  on  https://www.facebook.com/WasteWiseBenalla/
They are informative and often timely reminders!

Winton Wetlands Hume Engagement (DEECA) - July News Update 

Lots of reports of BSFG members catching up for coffee, meals and meetings  at the  sustainably built, Mokoan Hub while looking out over the Winton Wetland! .
The Winton Wetlands - Hume Engagement (DEECA) July News Update has been sent to subscribers. The update 
  • describes  developments in  the ongoing management of Winton Wetlands. 
  • is included in our Winton Wetlands news  blog . Thanks go to  Peter Maddock for converting it for us to view.  )
  • contains a link to subscribe to future updates.​
For further reading - check out our Winton Wetlands Updates, which include
  • 'Winton Wetlands - Hume Engagement  (DEECA)    updates (Nov 21  2025, March  and July 2026) 
  • Former Winton Wetlands CEO Dennis O'Brien's July 24th  overview as to how Winton Wetlands came  to a state of impasse in mid 2025. ​

Swanpool Environmental Film Festival - 'Rehydrating Australia' and more 

Click the image above to download the flyer pdf, or download here
BSFG was pleased to again work in partnership with Swanpool Landcare to present another Swanpool Environmental Film Festival Saturday 11 July 2026.  Three sessions were held at Swanpool Cinema  and included a light lunch, afternoon tea and dinner. 

The festival commenced with '40 Years of Landcare' by  the CEO of Landcare Victoria, Claire Metzel.  Claire honoured pioneering Landcare groups, including Warrenbayne, and emphasized the enormous value of the 40 years of community participation by Landcare groups since.  The film, 'Floodland', provided a compelling, trauma informed reminder of the impact of the Lismore floods in 2022.  The multiple case study celebrations of Peter Andrews inspired natural sequence farming in the film 'Rehydrate Australia' provided a fertile base for a Q&A with Stuart Andrews and Adrian Drew from Tarwyn Park Training.  In introducing  the film 'Turning the Ship', about the Rising the Tide campaigns in 2023 and 2024, Rhona Rose powerfully described her rationale for participating in the 2025 Rising the Tide blockade of the world's largest coal port in Newcastle, NSW, 

Landcare strategies;  post flood housing and trauma informed responses;  natural sequence and related regenerative farming; activism when 'the personal becomes political',  speaker Craig Castree's 'simple steps' in pursuit of regenerative edible gardening, and the inspirational Coburg case study 'Degrowth in the Suburbs', provided avenues of hope for audience members often overwhelmed by despair. 
And, throughout the day, the important reminder that  ecosystem restoration affects the hydrological cycle, influencing local moisture recycling and water availability.

For more detail about the 2026 Festival and earlier festivals, follow this link : -  Swanpool Environmental Film Festival.

​New Renewable Energy Benalla action group solar panel installation project completed 

​​Benalla Sustainable Future Group (BSFG) is delighted to announce completion of a new solar panel installation project on a Benalla community building at EdSpace (24 Carrier Street). 

​This development continues action group Renewable Energy Benalla’s commitment to the generation of solar power in our community and follows past REB projects which installed solar panels on Bernard Briggs and Munro Avenue kindergartens.
​EdSpace is an Independent Specialist School and a project of Capability Building Incorporated, a Public Benevolent Institution providing family centred support in health and education for young people with a medical diagnosis affecting their success in mainstream schools.
​The installation was funded by a no-interest loan from BSFG to EdSpace, which will be repaid by energy cost savings over the next four years or so.  The installation was undertaken yet again by SolarGain Wangaratta.
Pictured are EdSpace’s Chair Maggie Fanning,  BSFG’s President Brian Harker, and David Blore (REB).

March General Meeting - Film 'Old Growth Forests - Nature's Biotic Water Pump'
Did you miss the screening of  New England Forests' film "Old Growth Forests - Nature's Biotic Water Pump" at our March general meeting?  You can watch it in full here! 
​
For decades now, we've been hearing how greenhouse gases, particularly CO2, cause climate change. But what has been almost totally ignored is the effect that alteration of land cover has on our climate. It's not just about carbon.

Held bimonthly in the meeting room at the Uniting Church, BSFG meetings provide the chance to catch up with like minded members over supper.  Hope you can come!

​Inside

'Renewable Energy - A Life Cycle Perspective' - Tim Grant, Lifecycles
It's the 4th Anniversary  of the Bernard Briggs Pre School Solar Panels - a BSFG Project!
​BSFG Submission to the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into the supply of Housing in Regional Victoria.
​'The Art of Connection' - 2024/5 Summer Workshop Series ​
'Sustainable Farming Systems' - Serenity Hill 
'Gardening on the Verge' - Andie Guerin
​Feedback on Extended Drives in our loaned Electric Vehicle
​'Outstanding Talk on the Benefits of Trees  by Dr. Greg Moore' - Video Recording
​BSFG Climate Emergency Petition ​
​Benalla Sustainable Future Group acknowledges the traditional owners of the land on which we live, work and meet, the Taungerang, Yorta Yorta and Bpangerang people ​of North East Victoria, and pay our respects to their elders past, present and emerging.