Buy Recycled Champion: Kathy Zu

I came to sustainability from a background in behaviour change programs for not-for-profit organisations and local government. These programs included working with youth and Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) groups on the topics of road safety education, COVID restrictions and mentoring and its importance in breaking the cycle of poverty.

I’m a big believer in making sure information is accessible and meets the needs of the audience. Due to my cultural background, I offer an experienced CALD lens when viewing waste-related initiatives and I am across the barriers our diverse community face when it comes to understanding information. I had always found the messages around being ‘sustainable’ to feel overwhelming, so I moved into this field as a Recycling Education Officer to learn more myself and to endeavour to make this information accessible to all sectors of the Casey community.

Since becoming the City of Casey’s Buy Recycled Champion, I’ve become responsible for measuring and reporting back on Council’s green spend. Since there is no official method for how to do this and as there is an overwhelming amount of data, I’m currently looking into the best way to measure and to communicate the reporting in a way that is meaningful to the organisation. I have enquired with the broader Buy Recycled Champions on this and am also receiving support via SV’s Sustainable Procurement Expert on data collection and reporting. I am using this process to also identify what has been done well and easy opportunities for increasing the use of recycled materials across the organisation.

I love engaging with people directly and like to share positive reflections on what teams are doing well across the broader organisation via the intranet, internal yammer and in council corporate publications. I also promote council’s wins through the delivery of Recycle Right sessions to community groups – including CALD groups and the local deaf club.

Attending SV’s Buy Recycled Champions Launch event in March at the Australian Road Research Board’s (ARRB) National Transport Research Organisation (NTRO) testing facility in Port Melbourne gave me great insight into the potential of using recycled materials in road infrastructure products.

Following the meeting I used the information shared by ARRB, along with other research, and consolidated the findings. As a result, I met with my team leader and reached out to the engineering team to engage them on options for incorporating recycled materials into their projects. It turns out they'd had some previous negative experiences with recycled products so I contacted ARRB and organised a site visit at their Accelerated Loading Facility (ALF) in Dandenong. At the site, products, such as asphalt containing recycled content, can be tested under various conditions over a short period, to test how the road would hold up over a long period of time.

Ten City of Casey engineers attended the tour and have expressed interest in learning more about greener infrastructure outcomes. As a result, we are now looking to book training on sustainable infrastructure for National Recycling Week.

I can provide advice on the following:

• Training sessions for council officers on behaviour change principles and best practice methods.
• Green up council events (internal and external) including green events policy development.
• Textile recycling events – we are holding our second event this year for residents.
• Engaging with your engineering teams on recycled products and organising tours.

I’ve found that data collection and reporting aspects quite challenging as there is no official method and so much data. It is also very time-consuming, so I want to ensure I consider what I’m reporting on is important and valuable to the organisation. I have limited experience in this area so I am taking it one step at a time and appreciate the support from SV’s appointed sustainability expert at Procurement Australia, offered through the program who will be able to share best practice and templates we can emulate.

I’ve always wanted to fly - it seems an easy and fun way to get around. Now that I’m an adult I also value its fuel efficiency!