In 2010, the Indian Bazaar committee at Saint Ignatius College Riverview began efforts to make the event a waste wise one. Stallholders were encouraged to reduce their environmental footprint and make the Indian Bazaar a showcase of ‘caring for creation’. Jesuit Mission together with Sue Martin, Saint Ignatius College’s environment coordinator approached the waste wise event by asking stallholders to reflect on their practice, take small steps to reduce their impact on the environment and working collaboratively to find a better way of doing things.

Ten tips were developed to assist stallholders from the Indian Bazaar to make every stall a waste wise one, ‘if we all do a little, we all do a lot’. They can be applied to many different community events, from school fetes to parish morning tea. All our actions can have an effect; so even taking one of the tips below will make a difference.

Ten Ways to make your event a waste wise one:

1. Review your Purchasing
2. Think Fair Trade
3. Show you care
4. Set targets
5. Look for recycling opportunities
6. Love food hate waste
7. Know your impact
8. Offset your impact
9. Research for the future
10. Be an environmental champion

The Indian Bazaar focussed on achieving an improved waste footprint in 2010 by reducing their waste stream.

Refuse – reduce – reuse – recycle

Students working towards their school service awards supported the committee in separating different types of waste and managing collection on the day.

There are many more ways we can work together to make the Indian Bazaar and other events in the Jesuit community waste wise. A detail description of the 10 Tips and useful websites can be found here.

If you have any suggestions or require further information please contact Sue Martin on SMMartin@riverview.nsw.edu.au or Denis Eade on deniseade@hotmail.com.