October is Buy Nothing New Month - it's an initiative that aims to get people thinking about where a product comes from and where the waste goes when they're finished with it. The concept, which started in Melbourne in 2010, asks people to try to buy nothing new for the whole month, except essentials such as food, hygiene and medicines.
The Choose Tap education program, an initiative run by Victorian water retailer Yarra Valley Water, is a supporter of Buy Nothing New Month. The Managing Director of Yarra Valley Water, Pat McCafferty, says Choose Tap aims to increase awareness of the financial and environmental benefits of not buying bottled beverages.
"So, bottled water in Australia, we're spending over $730 million a year and about 375 million bottles end up in landfill and our waterways. So we're advocating tap water as a positive alternative - it doesn't have anywhere nearly the same environmental footprint. It's (also) a hell of a lot cheaper: it’s generally about 2,000 times cheaper."
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