Plastic Bag Free Frankston aims to educate the broader community of the devastating impact created by plastics whilst also making and distributing Boomer Bags. So what is a Boomerang Bag and where does Plastic Bag Free Frankston fit in? Boomerang Bags itself is a community driven initiative tackling plastic pollution at the grassroots level. Dedicated schools, community groups, businesses and volu
nteers get together to make re-useable ‘Boomerang Bags’ using recycled materials as a means to replace plastic bags. Through Boomerang Bags we start conversations, make friends, up-cycle materials and work towards shifting society’s throw away mentality to a more sustainable revolution of re-use – one community, needle and thread at a time! Plastic Bag Frankston is bringing the Boomerang Bags philosophy to our local community as a way of not just giving people an option to plastic bags, but with the hope that we can educate more people about the impact plastics are having on our suburbs and our environment. Where did the idea come from? In 2015, a local resident John Billing formed 3199 Frankston Beach Patrol, a volunteer organisation that meets once a month to clean up Frankston's beaches. This came about after John saw a documentary titled Baykeepers, which showed the impact plastics are having on Port Phillip marine wildlife. Shortly after forming 3199 Frankston Beach Patrol, John was approached by Plastic Bag Free Torquay founder Robert Skehan to discuss forming a Boomerang Bags community here in Frankston. In 2016, John met a fellow local who was just as enthusiastic about tackling litter, Suzie Webster. Suzie had recently founded Friends of Langwarrin Outdoors and Waterways (FLOW), which, similar to 3199 Frankston Beach Patrol, is a volunteer group who meet monthly to collect litter from Langwarrin's parks and waterway areas such as Lloyd Park and Boggy Creek. As John puts it, the idea to form Plastic Bag Free Frankston was "a no brainer". Plastics make up the majority of litter, not just here in Frankston, but globally with more than 8 Million Tonnes of plastic litter alone finding its way in to our oceans every year, so it makes sense to target the problem at source. After much consultation with community organisations, Frankston City Council and fellow residents and stakeholders alike, John and Suzie felt the time was right to launch Boomerang Bags here, as Plastic Bag Free Frankston, now. We are so very fortunate to have you join us and we welcome you to our team. Individually, the litter problem seems almost impossible to beat, but together, we will bring about change for our suburbs, cleaner streets and waterways including Port Phillip and beyond for the sake of our environment and future generations to come. On behalf of Suzie Webster and John Billing, thank you for joining Plastic Bag Free Frankston and we cannot wait to meet you. For more details, email [email protected]
