A new consumer awareness campaign is launching this snow season at retailers across the Snowy Monaro, aiming to prevent retail packaging litter from contaminating the alpine environment in the region, at the resorts, and within Kosciuszko National Park.
Led by the local sustainability and environmental group Sustainable Snowies, the new initiative rolling out this week is being supported by Snowy Monaro Regional Council, NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, and the Perisher, Selwyn, Charlotte Pass, and Thredbo resorts.
The collaborative approach will help ensure the campaign reaches as many visitors to the region as possible, so that no matter where people stop to shop this winter, they'll know how to do the right thing with their tags, packaging, and other retail waste.
Emma Stafford, Environmental Management Officer with the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service's Resort Environmental Services Team said that too many boxes, tags and plastic display hooks were not being discarded properly over winter. Emma's team started thinking about how to tackle the problem, and the new education campaign was born.
'Sustainable Snowies has brought together the key local resorts and public sector organisation to lead this new initiative, with the support of other local businesses across the region,' said Ms Stafford.
'This is the first time we have run this initiative and we're hopeful the local business can really get behind us to make this campaign a success.'
'Throughout the winter, we are going to see if we can get smaller retail stores to keep data on how much extra rubbish they are getting from their customers leaving packaging with them. We estimate this could see as much as a 20 percent reduction in litter volume, and we're looking forward to see how the campaign goes over the 2025 snow season.'
'There are a lot of people visiting the region this time of year, coming to see the snow and have fun. With their minds set on hitting the slopes, visitors aren't always mindful of where their rubbish winds up.'
'We want to remind people that it is everybody's responsibility to keep our towns, resorts, and alpine environment clean. This is a beautiful and precious part of Australia and we all have a part to play in protecting it and preventing litter this winter,' Ms Stafford said.
