Wow - that was a massive drive we did yesterday, including a spontaneous roadside clean-up at the base of the Grampians! It's fair to say we are both a bit tired today. I also noticed the neck of the Big Bottle is starting to have a bit of a kink, possibly from the weight of the roughly 20 bags of containers we have stuffed in there by now. But she'll be true (let's hope, anyway!).
I gave an interview on Triple M Sunrasia this morning, got interviewed by Vinnie from Mildura Weekly, Alex from ABC Mildura Swanhill and Sunrasia Daily. So, yes, the media is picking us up and I have 2 interviews booked in already for the next few days.
This morning, we were placed in the centre of Mildura in a shopping mall. My favourite story of today was that of Adam and his kids Ann and Jim. They checked us out as we set up, asked what we were about, signed the petition and then took off, encouraged by me, to look for littered containers. They did two rounds and came back grinning from ear to ear. Adam spoke to me about what a cash for container scheme would mean to him and his kids, see video below.
In the afternoon, we moved the Bottle to the waterfront. It was absolutely gorgeous. The flowing Murray, boats, kids playing in the water play park. Traffic was light, but the mayor of Mildura came to give me a big hug and congratulate us on our work. He showed me a letter the council had sent to our Vic Enviro minister Lily D'Ambrosio. He intends to send a follow-up letter and wanted me to read it carefully and 'make it stronger'. I had plenty of points to add and will add some more facts, but I told him that the argument of pro and con of CDS is moot, because all other mainland states will be having one and it's just idiotic not to go with the crowd on this one.
Left to right: Cr Jason Modica, Annett Finger and Mayor Mark Eckel
Later I saw a write-up in a Ballarat paper who put it brilliantly with a cartoon, that I can't link to, it's half-way down the article. As we packed up, Jane and her son came to check us out. Jane told us: "If it wasn't for that scheme, I wouldn't have had any money growing up. My dad used to drop us off in this spot in Port Augusta and we'd have these hessian bags and fill them with the containers we found littered. That kept us busy and I bought my first bike from that money."
Tomorrow we'll travel to Echuca, where we'll get a tour of the Veolia Material Recycling Facility (MRF). That'll be interesting!
Talk soon,
Annett
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