Published December 2024
Two local companies have had outstanding success in recycling, winning the WasteSMART Award run by the Brisbane City Council which recognised those reducing waste this year.
Love Me Again Market in Hamilton, who reduce fashion waste, won the Circular Threads Award, and Boe Design in Albion, who recycle bottle caps, won the Business Award.
Co-founder of Love Me Again Market Isobel Dear said: “One of the biggest challenges is to educate our customers. When we started in 2020, pre-loved clothes were not the customers’ priority, so we had to let them know that pre-loved clothes could be on-trend, stylish, and affordable.”
“But it all paid off as we have a group of loyal followers now,” she said.
Ms Dear said in two years, they have built a big community that buys and sells pre-loved clothing, including influencers and fashion insiders.
As Brisbane’s first micro-plastic recycler, Boe Design has found a solution for recycling plastic bottle caps, a major cause of Australia’s marine plastic pollution problem.
Containers are easily recycled through Containers for Change, but bottle caps had been overlooked by recycling facilities.
Co-founder Jemma Baker said: “We will produce new products using recycled plastic bottle caps and distribute the plastic to furniture manufacturers.”
Coming from an industrial design consultancy background, Ms Baker said: “We found that there are not many options for plastic recycling in Brisbane.”
“We are navigating in a new territory,” she said, as they start to use emerging AI technology for plastic recycling.
To connect with the community, Boe Design also organises ‘Rubbish Clubs’ which have now cleaned up 32 city blocks, a social group who meet up to collect rubbish on the street – join at boedesign.com.au/rubbish-club.
