Mornington Peninsula Shire has been awarded the Garage Sale Trail Outstanding Achievement Award in recognition of their innovative approach to promoting Australia’s largest reuse, waste education and community event to the local community.
Garage Sale Trail Co-Founder, Andrew Valder, said, “Mornington Peninsula Shire Council did a truly tremendous job of engaging their community in the Garage Sale Trail idea and the local participation outcomes and resulting impacts speak for themselves.
“Hats off to Council, its officers and local community members for making Garage Sale Trail’s debut such an awesome success”.
Garage Sale Trail is a grass roots program powered by council that engages communities to rethink what they waste through the simple act of buying and selling at a garage sale.
In 2017 Garage Sale Trail broke all records using the simple philosophy: reduce, reuse, and recycle.
More than 300 garage sales and stalls were registered across the Mornington Peninsula.
According to Garage Sale Trail the average household seller made $323 and community group sales averaged $743 via their involvement, 25 percent of all sellers were fundraising for a local cause or charity.
Mornington Peninsula Shire Mayor, Bryan Payne, said it was great to see the peninsula come together to demonstrate the importance of decluttering, reducing waste, reusing and recycling household items.
Mornington Peninsula Shire supported the Garage Sale Trail locally with promotion of the trail and assistance with registration.
The Shire also contacted local schools, community groups, community members and CFA Stations to encourage participation in the program.
Emphasis was placed on encouraging car boot sales or stalls at one site to reduce the amount of travelling necessary for prospective purchasers.
