Armidale Regional Council’s (ARC) recent Give a Sheet® linen drive was a huge success with 1000kg of linen collected and more than 100kg of linen donated to the Armidale Women’s Shelter.
ARC hosted the Give a Sheet® event at Armidale Waste Management Facility on 21 September 2024 – aiming to provide a resource recovery solution for linen waste that would otherwise end up in landfill.
Around 50 residents from the Armidale region, including attendees from Uralla and Invergowrie, attended the event.
The partnership with Blocktexx was organised in conjunction with Tamworth Regional Council to maximise value for money and showcase an innovative onshore approach to achieving true recycling from polyester and cotton bed linen.
The event was seen as an opportunity to positively engage with the community on resource recovery, including new ways of recycling linen and textile waste, as well as providing a trial for drop-off events for items that are difficult to recycle via the existing waste collection streams.
Highlights of the day include:
- 50 people attended the drop-off event plus eight volunteers helping out on the day
- 1 tonne of linen was collected
- 100kg of the collection was donated to the Armidale Women’s Shelter (AWS)
- An average of 17kg was donated per household
- Approximately 1,466 bed sheets and 5,866 pillowcases were collected
- Approximately 30,000 kg of CO2 equivalents were prevented from polluting the atmosphere.
The ARC Waste Management Team said a big takeaway from the customer survey on the day was the feedback received. They asked the question of what the attendee’s would like to see as a recycling event next, which were:
- Electronics/Electrical goods
- Mattress
- Carpet/Carpet Underlay
- Rubber • Furniture
- Tools/Power Tools
- Polystyrene
- Clothes
Evidence suggests this community is ready to find solutions that divert waste from landfill, and help grow a circular economy.
Published on 09 Oct 2024