Plastic Free July 2016 – a focus on the supply side of single use plastic

Widespread Support for Plastic Free July action by the Trading Community in Mullumbimby

Mullum Cares invited every trader in town to participate in the world first, whole community campaign to reduce single use plastic from both the supply and demand end of the problem.  At least 31 traders committed to changing their supply habits for the month and most embedded these permanently including the Mullumimby IGA who successfully phased out their supply of plastic carry bags at their registers – stopping in excess of 150 000 plastic bags entering our towns waste stream or environment.

This unique trader participation form was created to record business participation but only 6 businesses completed the online registration confirming that if you want small to medium business participation data for a report you’ve got to collect it manually! We know there will be businesses missing from this list as we kept coming across participating businesses who had just made the changes without telling us!  Trader Pledge

Below ‘participants’ are denoted in blue and were defined as businesses who implemented a change that reduced the volume of disposable plastic they supplied to the Mullumbimby community.  Businesses and organisations who supported wanted to show their support for campaign proudly displayed the red bordered mini poster and are denoted in red text below (many have left them up long after July 2016 ended) .  Most of these businesses ditched plastic bags and/or straws long ago (or never had them to begin with).  The final group in green are our invaluable list of sponsors without whom there wouldn’t have been a Mullum Plastic Free July support program for the local traders.


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img_0619-1Allure, Amber Martin Design, Anglican Op Shop, Art Piece Gallery, Australian Sustainability Institute, Bamboo Peace, Birds Nest Hair, Bolsa Bags, Branches, Bridgland’s Betta Home Living & Betta Electrical, Brown Paper Packages, Byron Community College, Byron Shire Council, Byron Shire Echo, Cactus Hill Project, Cheeki, Chemsave Pharmacy, Chincogan Real Estate, Chincogan Store, Commonwealth Bank, Courthouse Hotel, Craig Watson Soul Pattinson Pharmacy, Digital Electronics, Dolphin Office Choice, Earth Bottles, Eden’s Landing, Education Care Op Shop, Empire Cafe & Deluxe Burger Bar, Flash Computers, Green House Grocer, Honey Bee Wraps, Mullumbimby IGA, Izakaya Yu, James Hardware Mitre 10, John Robinson Accounting & Tax, Lulu’s Café, Made in Mullum, Michael’s Guitar Studio, Main Arm Store & Bottlo, Main Arm Primary School, Middle Pub, Motion Circus, Mullum Baa Baa, Mullum Cares, Mullum Chocolate Shop, Mullum Disposals, the Mullumbimby Emporium, Mullum Heads Organic Hair, Mullum Herbals, Mullum Instyle Living, Mullum Mac, Mullum S.E.E.D. inc., Mullumbimby Chamber of Commerce, Mullumbimby Chiropractic, Mullumbimby Farmers Market, Mullumbimby Jewellers, Mullumbimby Newsagency, Mullum Printworks, National Australia Bank, Octec Employment Service,  Pheonix Mens Wear, Plastic Free Byron Shire project, Poinciana Café, Portabello, Punch & Daisy, Print Rescue (Bruns), Professionals Real Estate, Puremelt Chocolate, Santos Organics, Scarecrows Kitchen, Scratch Patisserie, Spinifex Designs, STEER Project, Sue M’s Boutique, the Repair Cafe, Responsible Cafes, Seventh Day Adventist Op Shop,  Shanti Town, Shear Taste Canteen, Son of Drum Southern Cross Credit Union, The Silver Lining, The Source Bulk Foods,  Stewarts Menswear, Sunshine Alley, Tamara Smith MP, Tatu-Lu’s, Tinker Taylor Dancer Trader, Tursa Employment and Training, Video Ezy, Vinnies Op Shop, We Refill, Yemen, Your Straw, Yoga Pad & Zero Emissions Byron.

 And of course!  The Plastic Free July elders in WA who provide this global campaign open source and all the wonderful individuals who signed up to take the Plastic Free July challenge!