About Us

To effect social change in reducing our individual CO2 emissions or carbon footprint by the reduction of single use disposable plastics and adopting a Zero Waste lifestyle from a micro level up as a consumer and individuals. Increase Corporate Social Responsibility policies for businesses whilst creating a collective to influence industry and manufacturers to adopt new industry practices.
​
To teach, educate and inform independent businesses (retail, corporate, co-ops, non-profit and small business), councils, government, day care, afterschool care facility managers and residential homes by providing workshops/seminars and consultations from Big Business to consumers.​

The issue of removing plastics from our everyday life may seem daunting for one person or a business to tackle but remember that nobody wants to live on a planet suffocated by plastic. Every decision you make to buy or use a product influences companies’ decisions to continue producing it. Live as plastic-free as you can by making small positive changes in your daily lifestyle, home or workplace and inspire others to do the same. Stand up for what you believe in and this effort can influence policy and corporations to change their ways for the better.​

Find out more

ME

Susana Sanmiquel-Curtichs

My Story

I did not become “sustainable” overnight so don’t get discouraged. Turning your life upside down and trying to adopt a thousand new habits doesn’t work for anyone and didn’t for me – I don’t care how type 'A' you are.
A reusable stainless steel water bottle and ceramic keep cup where items I'd been using since 2010... and still have them! 
It wasn't until 2015 that the 'Plastic Free July' campaign hit my radar and brought to my attention the plastic bag and plastic straw problem that was impacting on our oceans and its animals. That along with a conversation I had with a friend about why I was throwing away into the garbage our empty aluminium cans of cat food so not to waste water rinsing them whilst knowing that the contamination of food in the recycling stream was not right made me investigated the issue further. Upon researching it became apparent to me that the use of water was less of an impact on the environment than the recycling of aluminium cans, which is a valuable and dwindling resource and I thought I was saving water! All these factors invigorated me to reduce my impact on our eco system and I became more political about this topic.
At the same time I discovered that the corn we are sold in supermarkets has all been GMO and sprayed with a weed killer Glyphosate a know carcinogen similar to and a derivative of 'agent orange', which is owned by Monsanto so I started to buy organic produce in particular corn. I quickly realised that my organic produce was wrapped in plastic and how could I spend hard earned money on good produce only to have it possibly being contaminated by another chemical BPA found in some plastics like cling wrap. In conjunction with lots of disappointment in our then political climate I felt I wasn't being heard and decided to start voting with my $$$ and made the move to choose who I gave my money to. I tried at first to choose the alternative products to the plastic packaged ones in the major supermarkets and it became evident that I had very little choice and did this initially till I found the resources and courage to breakup with the major supermarkets.
I then started to to audit my food wastage and realised this was the most valuable $$$ I spent. Hence came the novel idea to stop throwing out any food and implement a Zero Waste lifestyle especially when it comes to food!
I am an average woman living in a small house in Earlwood Sydney with a backyard that's so small you can't flip a whiteboard so I don't have room for a compost but I do have a worm farm. Which I have been using for years now for all my veggie scraps. I had one problem, all the excess cooked food n meat, dairy that was spoiling I had to throw in the bin. Admittedly I didn't have a lot but enough to stink out the bin and get all yucky so I still had to use a plastic bag to line my bin even though I knew what it was doing to the environment so I then stopped lining my bin with plastic bags and can I tell you it was ok but not ideal. I immediately found a second hand bokashi to deal with my excess cooked food and didn't take long to fill up and there are only so many holes you can dig to bury it in. So over the course of a few of weeks I analysed what I was throwing out by placing it in a container and storing it in the freezer. At first it was a big one and took up a lot of space but in time I dwindled it down to about a cup of food waste every 3mths which is food that can't be recovered like bones and citrus peels worms don't like them!
My pantry also reflects my change in how I view food literally!!! If I can see it, then it's very likely it won't be wasted. I don't even waste any bread. Before it gets to the mouldy stage I put it in the freezer and when I have a bag full I thaw it out it, put in the oven and make a batch of breadcrumbs, then add fresh things like sesame seeds or Parmesan before using.
I don't make everything but simply choose the ones that are important to me and are relatively easy after all I can't make my own soy or fish sauce (although I did research it and contemplate it) but decided I could buy that in a bulk glass bottle with a plastic lid that I could happily recycle correctly and for me that's ok. I call on my earned carbon credits! So as much as I would love to be 100% plastic free the choices aren't always available to us. I don't beat myself up about it instead I look for a solution and implement it. It’s a journey and it takes trial n error to get there. I am proud to say that I don't use any kind of plastic bags, straws or buy plastic bottled water and refuse to use any single use disposable plastic - cup, cutlery, plates etc. at an event.
​If you want to know more about me head over to my FAQ page.
This is my journey in a nutshell!

Explore