News
16 May, 2025
Turning trash into trees
A RECORD collection of nearly 90,000 10-cent beverage containers were gathered at the 2024-25 Woodford Folk Festival, with $22,000 having been raised for Containers for Change in three years.
Since 2022, the Woodford Folk Festival has returned more than 220,000 beverage containers through Containers for Change, with dedicated collection bins set up throughout the festival and processed by Express Recycling at their Burpengary operating depot.
Woodfordia Site Manager, Chris Shervey, said the thousands raised in the past three years was reinvested back into preserving the natural environment of the festival grounds.
“We have a monthly Treehuggers and Conservatree meet-up on site and we use the funds raised to buy mulch, trees, plants and ferns to support our volunteers,” he said.
“Our ability to divert waste streams is getting better every year, with over 110 volunteers working in our ‘Garbology’ department alone during the Woodford Folk Festival.
“We also have a subdepartment called the ‘Container Reclaimers’ whose job is to fish eligible containers out of the yellow-lidded recycling bins so we can claim the 10-cent refund.”
Container Exchange CEO, Natalie Roach, the not-for-profit organisation that runs Containers for Change, said businesses and events across Queensland were reclaiming costs by setting up dedicated container collection methods.
“Most of the containers that are not recycled through the scheme are consumed out of home at places like events, work, schools, public spaces, hospitality venues, and retail venues,” she said.
“It’s thanks to business-operator partnerships like the one between Woodfordia and Express Recycling that we can ensure no container goes to waste.”
