Plastic Wise Benalla is a committed group of community volunteers working to raise awareness about sustainable alternatives to plastic.

​Plastic Wise Benalla is working towards reducing the impact of single use plastic on our community. Our upcycled bags are sewn with love by community volunteers.
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Plastic Wise Benalla's Upcycled Bag project volunteers - Marg, Kaye, Viv, Doreen and Wendy at the Drill Hall, June 2016

Plastic Wise Reusable Bags - How to get involved!

Working bees:
Fortnightly on Tuesdays from 12:30 pm until 3:30 pm at the Benalla Drill Hall. 
​Our dates for July to December will be added shortly.  Watch this space!

Come along and help create bags for our community. You can come any time between those hours, and for any length of time – all help is appreciated!
Can’t sew? No problem at all! We also need help with cutting, sourcing material, ironing, and pinning – there’s plenty of tasks for all skill levels.

Sew at home kits:
Can’t make it to a working bee? We also have take home kits available!

Donations:
Donations are also welcome – we need sturdy material suitable for bags such as calico, curtains and tablecloths, and cotton for sewing up the bags.

Did you know? 

        'Throwaway coffee cups look innocent. But in between the cardboard is a tightly bonded polyethylene liner, which is difficult to remove and means they are not accepted by paper mills.'  The Guardian 

         Takeaway coffee cups usually end up in landfill due to inadequate industrial composting facilities and the difficulty in getting the cups and lids to one. They are hardly ever recycled and even less likely to be composted, no matter which bin you put them in!
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Responsible Cafes Movement
Customers are encouraged to bring their own clean reusable coffee cups, saving you in both time and money, in ways such as the cost of cups, storage space, cleaning, disposal...not to mention the impact on our environment! To help encourage customers cafes offer a discount of .50 cents, and with most of the cafes in Benalla now on board it is also a great marketing move.

To register, either head to www.responsiblecafes.com.org and pledge to join the movement or contact us and a Plastic Wise Benalla volunteer will meet with you to take down the required information and complete the registration process for you. Best of all? Registration is free!