Zero-waste initiative making an impact
Diana Condylas is making a big impact in Townsville through her passion for community building and sustainability. Her work with Plastic Free Townsville, a local initiative that is part of the national Plastic Free Places program, helps local food retaile
Diana
Condylas’ passion for food, the community and a zero waste society is contagious.
She has been making a big impact in Townsville, using her passion for community building and sustainability to create meaningful connections and initiatives.
Through her work with Plastic Free Townsville, Diana is helping local businesses eliminate single-use plastic takeaway packaging and make Townsville a more sustainable and environmentally friendly place.
Plastic Free Townsville is a local initiative that is part of the national Plastic Free Places program run by Boomerang Alliance.
The initiative works with local food retailers such as cafes, restaurants, and food vans to eliminate single-use plastic takeaway packaging items such as straws, cutlery, cups and lids, foodware, carry bags, and water bottles.
“These items make up around 40 per cent of rubbish picked up in beach and land clean-ups and they are among the easiest to avoid,” Diana tells NQ Weekend. “We also know that greenwashing is rife in the packaging industry and a busy cafe owner or procurement officer isn’t going to want to trawl through packaging catalogues to figure out what a good alternative is.”
As Plastic Free Townsville is funded by the State Government, the not-for-profit organisation can offer the service for free.
“We identify the needs of the business by meeting with the owner/manager and then find solutions using an “Avoid•reuse•switch” model and creating a personalised action plan to eliminate those key plastic items,” Diana says. “We also offer a Back of House plastics elimination program and a Reusable
Champions program, where we go beyond the basic program to increase reusables (mainly coffee cups) coming through the business.”
Since March 2020, more than 90 local
businesses have joined as members, and the number continues to grow.
The public’s response to Plastic Free Townsville has been positive, with members of the public expressing gratitude for the program and asking for more businesses to join.
“We’ve had business owners express happy surprise after a meeting that they can simply wait for my report and take steps from there.
“I receive messages from members of the public all the time, saying thanks for working with a particular business that they obviously support, and also messages asking me to reach out and sign up particular businesses.”
Diana says the public really likes seeing local cafes and vans become members of Plastic Free Townsville.
“It’s a really positive thing. People feel like they’re doing good when they support someone else who is doing good. It’s that ripple effect again.”
Although local food retailers in Townsville have embraced Plastic Free Townsville, Diana admits it has been a long road.
“It’s a bell curve. You have your early enthusiastic adopters, then the people who aren’t opposed but feel that it’s not a priority but that maybe they need to do something, to the hesitant and overwhelmed, to the outright oppositional.
“Townsville is a funny place, which is why I love it.
“We have over 90 members today. It’s taken three years to get here.
“Plastic Free Cairns launched at the same time as we did, and Plastic Free CQ launched just last year and they have more members - but of the members we do have, the Townsville members have been more proactive in switching away from single-use plastics.”
Diana says some local business operators are so conscientious that they will check with her about packaging whenever they change anything.
“Some business operators want to go beyond just the key items and I am there for that. I have had businesses sign up because their friend who owns a different cafe signed up. I think many of us are just fans of each other.”
Diana sees the work and care many local business operators put into everything they do and she admires it so much.
“Hospitality is filled with creative people and I think they like being inspired with ideas to tweak their business to make it profitable yet
The public’s response to Plastic Free Townsville has been positive, with members of the public expressing gratitude for the program and asking for more businesses to join
stepping out of contributing to all that food packaging waste.”
Plastic Free Townsville has evolved greatly
since it was launched in 2020.
“Each Plastic Free Place is different. Plastic Free Townsville was perhaps a bit of a wildcard because it wasn’t a tourist town or busy city like the places before it.
“So it took time to figure out what the hospitality community and greater community responded to. I once had someone tell me that it takes eighteen months for a concept to be accepted in Townsville and for anyone to listen. I laughed at the time but I don’t think she was entirely wrong.”
Diana says although the program still continues its core work with individual food and beverage businesses, it has expanded to work more closely with Townsville City Council on plastics policy and events, as well as a three month COFO (Commercial Food Organics) Trial.
The COFO trial has diverted almost 12 tonnes of food waste from landfill which Diana describes as a highlight.
Diana has also worked with the Townsville Folk Festival to assess vendors and advise them to ensure they are single-use plastic free, as well as looking at festival-wide ways of reducing waste overall.
The latest statistics on the impact of Plastic Free Townsville on eliminating single-use plastics is admirable.
“993,326 pieces of single use plastic have been eliminated by the food and drink vendors of Townsville that have joined as Plastic Free Townsville members.
“We would love to see it click over to a million soon.
“We need current members to take the next step in eliminating those plastic items they have been hesitant about - and for new members to join.”
Before taking up the reins of Plastic Free
Townsville, Diana worked as a naturopath, nutritionist and massage therapist.
Diana originally came to Townsville for an adventure, staying for five years before moving back to Sydney.
However, after becoming involved in community gardens, sustainability, and permaculture groups in Sydney, she felt drawn back to Townsville.
“I wanted to find those people in Townsville. So I started Food for Thought - Townsville. Anyone was welcome,” Diana says.
Food for Thought quickly became a hub for discussion and connection, with the group meeting regularly to chat about produce, health, ethics, and shared food and stories.
The group also spawned several successful initiatives, including Food Rescue NQ and Movies that Matter.
“I am still friends with many of those people.
Food for Thought was a place for ideas to be discussed and tried out,” Diana explains.
“It was also about building community resilience through connection. Everyone eats! We all have that in common even though our philosophies may differ. I always say that everything comes back to food.
“Whether it be inequities due to gender, race, income, education or politics, stories and recipes from our ancestors, creating satisfied, nourishing and safe spaces to relate to each other as humans, sharing food as a kindness, agriculture and climate impacts - it all comes back to food.”
In addition to her work with Food for Thought, Condlyas also became involved in the Townsville Toy Library, eventually serving as president of the committee.
She also became the Queensland representative for the national Toy Libraries Australia committee.
After being a stay-at-home mother for nine years, Diana looked for paid employment initially looking for a role in children’s health education which she was passionate about.
“It wasn’t the right time for that and all of a sudden I was receiving a link from friends and acquaintances for the job as co-ordinator of Plastic Free Townsville. I was told I would be perfect for the role.
“I clicked on the link and the rest, they say is history.”