7 Mar 2023

Container bins a win for brighter futures at Griffith University

MEDIA RELEASE

Griffith University students have a new way to help the environment and their fellow students thanks to a new partnership launched this year.

Containers for Change donation bins have been launched at both Nathan and Gold Coast campuses to collect eligible drink containers ahead of the start of the teaching year.

All 10-cent refunds from the eligible containers will be donated to Griffith’s Brighter Futures Scholarships which assists financially disadvantaged and educationally disadvantaged students.

Signature green container bins have been placed across the campuses ahead of O-Week kicking off from 27 February – 10 March where thousands of students will have a chance to donate their empties for the first time at a Queensland university campus.

Containers for Change will have their green team at the Gold Coast campus to launch the bins at the Nathan campus on 8 March to educate both local and international students about Queensland’s container refund scheme.

Griffith University has a long history of environmental sustainability and is ranked in the top 200 universities worldwide for their implementation of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.

The university also has a goal of halving carbon emissions by 2030 and net zero carbon emissions by 2050 – a goal that aligns with Containers for Change recycling and circular economy ethos.

More than 900,000 tonnes of carbon emissions have been saved thanks to the more than 6 billion containers returned through the Containers for Change program, as the recycled materials replace newly manufactured materials.

Natalie Roach, CEO of Container Exchange, the not-for-profit operating Queensland’s container refund scheme, says the bins present a win-win for students.

“The donation bins at Griffith University show off the environmental, social, and economic impact of container refunds,”

“There are more than 55,000 students across the university’s campuses so these donation bins have a huge potential to save thousands of containers that might have ended up as litter or landfill,”

“Helping the planet and helping their fellow students is now as easy as dropping an eligible container into the green Containers for Change bins between classes,” she said.

Containers for Change green donation bins can be found at Griffith University Gold Coast and Griffith University Nathan.

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Sarah Thearle
Manager Communications
Container Exchange
m| 0427 877 482
e | media@containerexchange.com.au