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Sitting on top of 80,000 plastic bags!

A Bega Valley Shire Council campaign to encourage soft plastics recycling will give five winning schools a prize containing thousands of plastic bags in disguise!

Get creative and win a recycled plastic bench for your local school. Photo supplied by REPLAS.

Get creative and win a recycled plastic bench for your local school. Photo supplied by REPLAS.

29 October 2021

A Bega Valley Shire Council campaign to encourage soft plastics recycling will give five winning schools a prize containing thousands of plastic bags in disguise!

Through the competition, entrants are encouraged to keep soft plastics away from landfill and organic waste by showing creative ways to recycle their plastic bags, wrappers and packets.

TO ENTER, FILL IN THE FORM AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE.

“Plastic bags mightn’t sound like a very exciting prize, but by pairing with plastic recycling company, REPLAS, we’re turning about 80,000 plastic bags into some amazing benches for five winning local schools,” Council’s Waste Project Officer, Amber Gault said.

“Each of the benches contain about 16,000 plastic bags that otherwise would have ended up in landfill, and they have a unique design to brighten up any school playground.

“To be in the running to win and nominate a school of your choice, all you need to do is take a photo and show us a fun or unique way that you use your soft plastic collection bag at home.

“Our soft plastic collection bags can be picked up for free at any shire library, waste facility, or at our reception in Bega. 

“We want the community to think outside the BAG with this competition, and to have some fun while getting creative. And of course, if young kids are getting involved, they need to be reminded about safe use of plastic bags.

“You might have somewhere funny where you store your bag, a cool way to decorate it, an interesting way you transport it to the supermarket, or it might even be what you do with the bag when you’ve emptied it in the bin and scrunched the bag back up into a ball.

“The waste team will select the five most creative entries, and each winner gets to choose a local school to receive an item of recycled furniture.

“We love seeing the community recycling their soft plastics and we want everyone to see what happens after bags, wrappers and packets are emptied in the REDcycle bins at Coles or Woolworths.

“REDcycle takes the soft plastics and supplies them to recycling organisations like REPLAS who turn it into functional items like benches, decking, signs, bollards and even a recycled road surface.

“It takes a problematic waste product that can end up in our FOGO bins and flips it on its head by turning it into a valuable commodity.”

The competition is open to all Bega Valley Shire residents, from Friday 29 October. To enter, upload your photos using the form below before Wednesday 8 December 2021.

The Plastic Free FOGO project is supported through the?Environmental Trust as part of the EPA's Waste Less Recycle More initiative, funded from the waste levy.

Entry form


  1. The Promoter is Bega Valley Shire Council, ABN 26 987 935 332
  2. Information on prizes and how to enter form part of these Terms and Conditions. Participation in this competition constitutes acceptance of these Terms and Conditions.
  3. The competition is open to all Bega Valley Shire residents.
  4. A maximum of five entries may be submitted per person. In the event of more than five entries being made, only the first five downloaded photographs will be entered.
  5. Council employees and its Councillors, and their immediate family members residing in the same dwelling are ineligible to enter the competition. “Immediate family” means spouse, de-facto, parent, natural or adopted child and sibling who live in the same household as the employee or Councillor.
  6. The competition starts at 9.00am AEST on Friday 29 October 2021 and closes at 11.59pm AEST on Tuesday 7 October 2021.
  7. The draw will take place at 12.00pm AEST on Friday 10 October 2021.
  8. Five winning entries will be asked to nominate a registered state or private school within the Bega Valley Shire to receive a recycled plastic bench. The Promoter’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
  9. In the event that a school is nominated for more than one bench, the winner will be asked to nominate a second school that is yet to be nominated.
  10. The prize is a recycled plastic bench made by REPLAS. The prize is not exchangeable, transferable or redeemable for cash.
  11. The drawn winner will be contacted using the email address supplied in the entry form within two business days of the draw and will be required to respond back to Council by email within five business days of the draw. Should a contact number be available in Council’s records, Council will also seek to use this as a means to contact the drawn winner.
  12. If the drawn winner is not confirmed as eligible within five business days of the draw, a redraw will occur.
  13. The Promoter has the right to disqualify any entrants or entries where it is reasonably suspected that any unlawful or improper conduct, such as infringing a third party’s privacy or intellectual property rights, or if there has otherwise been a breach of the competition terms and conditions.
  14. Information collected in the Registration process will be used by the Promoter only as agreed by the registrant during registration and for conducting the random draw.
  15. On confirmation of an eligible winner, the winner agrees to be photographed and have their name published on the Promoter’s website, begavalley.nsw.gov.au and in media and publicity by the Promoter.
  16. Bega Valley Shire Council may use all photos entered in its documents, newsletter, website, social media platforms, media releases and liaison with journalists.
  17. By entering this competition, you agree to have sought permission from all persons and guardians of persons under the age of 18 to include them in any entered photographs.

 

 

Making an enquiry

All media enquiries and interview requests are coordinated by Council's Communication and Engagement team under the adopted Communications Policy. To view this policy, visit Public Policies and search 'communications'.

To submit a media enquiry or to request an interview:

Councillors

Councillors can be contacted directly for enquiries regarding decisions of the elected Council and non-operational matters. Interviews with the Mayor should be arranged through the Communication and Engagement team contact details above.

Receiving information

If you’re a journalist or media organisation that would like to receive media releases and notifications about media opportunities, please email your name, title and contact details to media@begavalley.nsw.gov.au and we will add you to our distribution list.

You can also subscribe to Bega Valley Together and Business News, Council's fortnightly e-newsletters, or follow @begavalleyshirecouncil on Facebook  and Instagram.

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