Culture Club - Everyday Sustainability With Environmental Advocate Lottie Dalziel

00:00:00.000 How to spot greenwashing, sustainability in the beauty industry, and how a backyard idea

00:00:12.880 grew into a recycling powerhouse.

00:00:15.420 I'm Jasmine.

00:00:16.440 And I'm Maggie.

00:00:17.700 And you're listening to Culture Club.

00:00:19.560 This is our monthly interview with the person we find interesting and that we think you

00:00:24.060 will too.

00:00:24.620 we acknowledge that the Wurundjeri Woiwurrung people and the Gadigal people are the traditional

00:00:33.400 custodians on the land which we record this podcast episode we would like to pay our respects

00:00:39.120 to elders past and present always was always will be aboriginal land

00:00:44.740 I've got a prerequisite for shoes I buy and that is that they have to be comfortable 0.99

00:00:53.340 and that usually means they're flat. Did you know that Radical Yes only makes flat shoes?

00:00:59.040 They actually call it the flat shoe liberation, which I love. They get us. We're busy women.

00:01:04.100 We're running around from work to events to social gatherings. We need shoes that fit our 1.00

00:01:10.080 lifestyles. Honestly, we've all woken up with post-teal regret before. Those blisters can haunt

00:01:15.320 you for life. Yeah. And flat shoes aren't boring and they don't have to be casual either. I love 0.99

00:01:21.340 Radical Yes's Manet buckle shoe, which is a square toe loafer and their electric buckle shoe,

00:01:28.240 which is their take on the ballet flat. And they've also got the cutest boots too. You've

00:01:33.080 been wearing your patient's zip up tall leather boots everywhere. I've seen a few compliments of

00:01:37.640 them online. Yeah, I have absolutely just not taken them off. And do remember listeners,

00:01:43.820 we've got an exclusive discount code. Use Culture Club 25 to get $25 off Radical Yes's

00:01:51.640 new arrivals. And check out our favorite picks at the link in our show notes.

00:01:56.440 You can also find Radical Yes on Instagram at Radical Yes and online at RadicalYes.com.au.

00:02:09.540 Today's episode of Culture Club is brought to you by Radical Yes,

00:02:12.960 the Melbourne brand making cool shoes for modern women.

00:02:17.060 She was the 2023 New South Wales Young Australian of the Year.

00:02:21.500 She's been featured on a Forbes 30 Under 30 list,

00:02:25.020 named Marie Claire's 2023 Eco Warrior of the Year,

00:02:29.100 and is the founder of Banish, an e-commerce and educational platform

00:02:33.760 that's on a mission to reduce waste.

00:02:36.240 Lottie DL is one of Australia's leading voices for sustainability.

00:02:39.620 through her hands-on work, educational social media videos and her accessible point of view

00:02:45.020 Lottie is empowering a new generation of sustainability advocates. Welcome Lottie thank

00:02:50.440 you so much for joining us on Culture Club today how are you going? I'm good thanks so much for

00:02:56.200 having me I'm super excited to chat to both of you. Likewise so we're just going to get straight

00:03:01.640 into some questions because we're so interested in your journey and the work that you do which

00:03:06.240 is why we wanted to get you behind the microphone so firstly we would love to know how did your

00:03:11.620 journey of environmental activism begin it's actually a pretty not simple story but it's

00:03:19.620 quite a new story I guess I've only really been living consciously for the past six years and it

00:03:26.140 was actually off the back of a new year's resolution I was always somebody who did something

00:03:31.640 when it came to the planet like I've been using a reusable coffee cup for forever and I vividly

00:03:36.800 remember mum and dad composting when we were younger and doing little things like that but

00:03:42.460 when it was six years ago I was setting a bunch of new year's resolutions as so many people do

00:03:48.800 some of them were to learn Spanish other ones were to run a half marathon and one of them was just to

00:03:56.120 do better when it came to the planet. Six years ago we were starting to see news headlines that

00:04:01.120 were pretty daunting and pretty scary. We were seeing turtles with straws up their noses and

00:04:06.120 seabirds with plastic in their stomachs. And I wasn't by any means somebody who was living

00:04:12.180 sustainably, but I knew that I could be doing more when it came to the planet. And I was working as

00:04:18.480 a journalist at the time and I thought, well, I can't be the only one that feels like this.

00:04:25.300 I can't be the only one that wants to do something, but also still wants to drive their

00:04:30.720 car that will probably still consume plastic but wants to learn how to use a lot less of it

00:04:36.420 and when I started researching and looking into it it was really confusing and it was really

00:04:42.960 difficult and there was lots of information out there for people who had been living like this

00:04:48.840 their whole life or who had the means to live off the grid to buy an EV car to have solar installed

00:04:57.040 in their house and as a young 20-something year old living in the middle of Sydney who was renting

00:05:04.120 I had no way to kind of do any of those things but I still wanted to be able to do something

00:05:09.160 being a journalist I was able to kind of dig through all of the research and the data that

00:05:14.080 was available and figure out exactly what a couple of steps that I could take in order to become more

00:05:20.060 sustainable so i think i just started with a plastic straw i was like i have smoothie smoothies

00:05:26.780 at home i always add a plastic straw in up for my breakfast there has to be a more sustainable

00:05:31.980 switch and i remember googling best sustainable straw and hundreds of thousands of results came

00:05:38.700 back but there wasn't just one simple and easy option it was like silicon straws wheat straws

00:05:45.780 pasta straws bamboo straws stainless steel straws all these different options were kind of being

00:05:51.420 thrown at me and I was like I really don't know what to do I just want to do something just tell

00:05:55.200 me the right thing that I can do right now and eventually I figured out that I would buy a

00:06:01.680 stainless steel straw and I ordered a pack of five online and a couple of days later they came

00:06:07.360 individually wrapped in plastic and I was pretty disappointed pretty disheartened I'd done all of

00:06:13.540 my research I thought I was supporting a sustainable business I thought I was doing the right thing

00:06:18.260 and I was yeah just pretty pissed off to be honest but instead of seeing that as a failure and seeing

00:06:25.840 that as something that I would be super frustrated with I saw an opportunity to educate people on how

00:06:32.840 to be more sustainable and to make it mainstream but also to connect them with the brands that

00:06:37.900 were actually doing the right thing for the planet because when I was doing my research

00:06:42.160 I would find these amazing people who are hand-making their own cleaning products in

00:06:46.660 small batches or they're hand-knitting their own dishcloths. They were doing all of these things,

00:06:50.980 but they weren't able to reach large audiences. So that was kind of where I was like, hang on,

00:06:56.280 I think I could bridge that gap and come in here and do that. It's so refreshing to hear that you've

00:07:01.980 only been in the space for about six years or so and that you weren't, you know, born into it,

00:07:07.140 knowing everything. I would love it if you could please tell us a bit more about Banish. Can you

00:07:12.780 tell us about the story of how it came to be and what it's all about? Banish actually was a pretty

00:07:17.760 quick starter after I'd made that New Year's resolution. When I had that morning or those

00:07:23.600 couple of days when I did the stainless steel kerfuffle, I guess we can call it, when everything

00:07:29.460 arrived in plastic, it was actually two weeks later that I decided to launch Banish. So I had

00:07:35.580 the idea and I'd launched businesses before and in my previous experience everything didn't need

00:07:42.980 to be perfect and I thought why not just throw it up there I thought about what failure would look

00:07:47.960 like and I was like well the worst thing that could happen by me launching Banish would be

00:07:52.540 that I would help educate a couple of people on how to live more sustainably and the platform

00:07:58.620 wouldn't work and I would realize that I was the only one that was feeling like this so to me I

00:08:03.560 didn't really see that as failure so I just kind of thought why not give it a shot I launched two

00:08:10.120 weeks later and then I was doing it for I think about nine months before I quit my full-time job

00:08:16.220 and went all in on Banish. You also began one of Australia's largest specialty recycling programs

00:08:24.180 it started literally in your backyard it's such a cool story can you please share with our listeners

00:08:30.000 how that came to be and how you grew it yeah so that is brad so brad is the banish recycling and

00:08:36.400 disposal program that recycles hard to recycle household items like blister packs beauty products

00:08:42.580 coffee pods toothpaste tubes and toothbrushes so what happened was i'd been running banish for

00:08:49.860 about three years and in that time i'd been also on my own sustainability journey and i'd been

00:08:56.440 making swaps and switches as I was learning about them or as I was finished with the product that

00:09:01.880 then make a more sustainable switch but three years on I was still throwing things in the bin

00:09:07.280 and I was looking in the bin and I saw all of these different items and I was looking at them

00:09:12.820 I was going well I can see there's aluminium in that blister pack I can see that there's glass

00:09:18.640 in my beauty products why are these going to landfill and I did my research and I found out

00:09:25.500 that they could actually be recycled but they just had to go to specialty recyclers because

00:09:30.880 they're complicated materials and they're often costly to recycle so that's why your local council

00:09:38.220 won't accept them in their curbside in your curbside recycling bin so i thought well why not

00:09:43.620 incentivize people to make behavior change because ultimately i feel like for people to start living

00:09:50.960 sustainably. It can be scary, it can be daunting, it can be overwhelming. So I thought as a business

00:09:57.880 instead of doing something like 1% for the planet or donating a percentage of profits or planting

00:10:02.520 trees or carbon offsetting we would provide them with the service of Brad. So households will put

00:10:09.380 all of their different items into a shoebox and they will send them back to us in the mail. It's

00:10:15.420 a pretty wacko concept to be honest and I didn't really think that many people would do it I thought

00:10:22.960 that it was kind of one of those nice to habs and it was just a really cool idea really so the 0.99

00:10:29.380 premise was send us your waste in a shoebox and then we'll give you a $15 voucher to spend it

00:10:35.200 banish on sustainable swaps and switches so send us your plastic toothbrushes buy bamboo toothbrushes

00:10:41.120 send us the pumps and sprays of your shampoo bottles, buy shampoo and conditioner bars.

00:10:46.260 So all about making it a bit easier, acknowledging the fact that we all have plastic in our homes,

00:10:53.220 but going, well, use up what you've got because that's the most sustainable thing that you can do

00:10:57.400 and then make a sustainable switch. So we launched in November and I think in December,

00:11:05.300 we got three parcels and I went oh cool like this is fun like how exciting proof of concept three

00:11:12.480 people wanted to send me their recycling in the mail and then it got to February and we'd received

00:11:18.900 200 parcels just alone in February so there was this aptitude and people were kind of they were

00:11:26.980 understood and they're like yes I am that person yes I want to do this too which was really exciting

00:11:33.260 so it was literally being all being sent to my local post office I'd go and pick it up at the

00:11:38.440 post office and bring it home and I was sorting it in the backyard it was so ridiculous and my

00:11:45.020 roommates at the time were so lovely about it I do not think I was being this chilled about it

00:11:49.820 but I kept on getting all of this stuff and more more stuff and then the post office would call me

00:11:54.440 every second day and be like Lottie you need to come and get the parcels because we can't we have

00:11:58.880 no room for everybody else's parcels because yours are just taking up everything so I'd go back and

00:12:03.840 I'd get it and I was documenting everything on social media and I had all of these random people

00:12:08.640 on social media sending me dms being like hey Lottie I'll come to your house and sort through

00:12:13.360 people's rubbish with you and I was like this is so weird like no you're not coming to my house

00:12:19.820 to do this this is so strange so then I messaged all of my friends and I was like hey will you come 0.93

00:12:25.200 to my house this weekend to sort through other people's rubbish like I really need some help

00:12:28.540 and they're all like no that's ridiculous why would I do that this is so strange so I ended

00:12:34.680 up talking to my roommates and they were like okay you can have strangers over to the backyard

00:12:39.620 to sort through the rubbish just because there was so much we needed to kind of sort it and then

00:12:46.200 send it on to the different recyclers um we were doing that for quite a few months um and then I

00:12:51.900 think it really just hit breaking point where like there was no room left in the laundry the carport

00:12:55.960 was just literally filled with all of these shoeboxes so then we moved into a self-storage

00:13:00.400 unit where um we were sorting in the fire escape so we have weekly sorting sessions where more

00:13:07.680 volunteers just through social media would come and they would help us open up all of these shoeboxes

00:13:13.820 and then the actual like storage unit would literally fill up with these boxes because

00:13:19.300 we were receiving them faster than we were able to send them out and then we're trying to pack

00:13:24.040 orders for Banish but we're literally like hurdling over blister pack bags it was just

00:13:29.340 absolute chaos and then in April last year we moved into the sustainability hub which we which

00:13:35.520 have created in an abandoned pharmacy at Central Station so it's a huge space and it has just been

00:13:41.880 amazing for us so now we're able to have twice weekly sorting sessions with the community

00:13:47.960 also do corporate volunteering as well where we have up to 15 people in that session

00:13:52.800 and they will literally be opening up all of the shoe boxes sorting them into the different waste

00:13:57.620 streams we're now processing some of the materials here ourselves on site so things like the bottle

00:14:03.940 top lids and the soy sauce fishies we've now got an industrial size shredder so we shred them down

00:14:09.280 and then we have extruder machines which then turn them into new products like refillable plastic

00:14:15.380 pens are one of our best sellers in that range so it's really just been this kind of evolution and

00:14:21.600 has completely grown into something that I didn't ever anticipate I think more people now know about

00:14:29.040 Brad than they do about Banish because of just I don't know I think word of mouth social media

00:14:35.180 people are just so excited to be able to have the opportunity to recycle these items that

00:14:42.660 otherwise would go to landfill and I think for other people it just seems like I feel like we

00:14:48.500 deal with everything that nobody else wants to deal with because it is really difficult to recycle

00:14:53.100 thing these things but there's an ad there's an aptitude there from the community like I wonder

00:14:59.780 if people are so willing to sort through this stuff it's maybe because it feels like a tangible

00:15:07.040 thing you can do like you're literally getting the reward in the same afternoon that you're

00:15:13.600 there sorting through rubbish and like seeing it go through a shredder or become something else

00:15:18.320 feels like a tangible way to help the planet when like there's so many like ideas or like you put

00:15:24.880 your things in the yellow bin and then you don't see it again it's like almost like creating that

00:15:29.540 connection between people and their rubbish would you say that's correct it is and I think as well

00:15:35.880 for the people who are sending in their recycling we find that about 40 percent of them are in

00:15:42.020 regional and remote communities so they might not have access to any yellow recycling bin so the

00:15:47.740 fact that they can send their recycling somewhere is really exciting and I think from the community

00:15:54.400 volunteering perspective a lot of people are at different stages of their journey and I think

00:16:00.080 coming and helping us and volunteering with Brad you connect with so many other people who feel

00:16:06.380 the same way I always say that we're one of the youngest group of volunteers out there because we

00:16:12.240 have this really young demographic we obviously have we accept everybody and anybody but we do

00:16:17.900 genuinely skew to that kind of mid-20s demographic of people who are going I just want to do

00:16:23.660 something just help me do something and that's what we're here for oh I love this story especially

00:16:30.760 about hearing you speak about blister packs it reminds me of this episode of war on waste where

00:16:36.740 you know the host Craig they collect heaps and heaps of these blister packs and then dump them

00:16:43.220 on the doorsteps of all these big pharma companies I think in these conversations around sustainability

00:16:49.220 it can be kind of hard to know like whose responsibility it is so I'm wondering do you

00:16:56.300 think these companies creating these products are the ones that should like you know bear that

00:17:00.940 responsibility or is it on us as a consumers? Yeah it was really fun having Craig to one of

00:17:07.560 the volunteering sessions and I think for him and the rest of the war and waste team it was a really

00:17:13.580 big eye-opener around the blister pack problem and I do ultimately think that it comes down to

00:17:22.500 the producer to not only be responsible for the creation of the packaging but also the disposal

00:17:29.300 at the end of it it's something that i would love for them to be more involved with i know there's

00:17:36.180 very very early on stage talks about product stewardship schemes and getting them more

00:17:42.100 involved in their disposal but for me ultimately the packaging needs to change ultimately i would

00:17:49.260 love for brad not to have to exist because all of these items can be really easily recycled

00:17:56.260 or there's barely any packaging to recycle in the first place but in reality we're a very long way

00:18:03.280 off of that so right now that's kind of where we're sitting in bridging that gap and hopefully

00:18:09.460 organizations can see what we're doing as a small social enterprise and go we could be doing so much

00:18:16.680 more on that note of what companies can be doing a lot of people seem to be experiencing eco fatigue

00:18:23.460 at the moment as it feels like we'll never win against these big conglomerates how do you

00:18:29.700 personally combat this and then what advice would you give to others who feel like their

00:18:34.560 contributions are a bit futile at the moment I think my advice for people would be it's really

00:18:41.560 easy to get caught up in what you can't control and to feel like your impact as an individual is

00:18:49.460 insignificant but for me I think that there is so much power in the individual and the collective

00:18:56.640 actions of individuals making small changes which in total will make a really significant difference

00:19:03.020 it's things like when you do go to the supermarket buying loose carrots over buying bagged carrots

00:19:09.040 it seems so tiny and so insignificant but you're inadvertently putting demand for loose

00:19:16.780 unpackaged vegetables over plastic wrapped vegetables and if we all started doing that

00:19:22.540 there'd be more loose carrots on the shelf there would be fewer bagged carrots on the shelf it

00:19:28.200 seems like there's so much and so far to go and i'm not saying that it's everything should be on

00:19:33.720 the consumer i definitely don't think that but i think that there is definitely things that we can

00:19:38.400 be doing and that individuals can really have significant contributions to another really

00:19:44.900 small thing that I love to talk to people about is reusable coffee cups because I know it's

00:19:51.340 nothing new and I know everybody probably listening to this podcast either has one at

00:19:56.280 home or has used one in their lifetime but probably has fallen out of the habit of doing so

00:20:00.620 but just by using that reusable coffee cup not only are you diverting one single use

00:20:06.680 plastic coffee cup from entering landfill but you're also reminding every other person in that

00:20:12.940 coffee shop line to remember theirs next time you're leading by example and I think we don't

00:20:19.080 give ourselves enough credit for that that even by other people seeing you use that cup it's a

00:20:24.800 reminder that yes they can bring theirs next time without you standing there with a sign and

00:20:29.300 slapping them over the back of the wrist with a ruler saying you didn't bring your cup no coffee

00:20:33.180 for you no coffee for you so I think it's really difficult and I think with eco fatigue in particular

00:20:40.400 there's a lot of it it's a people always ask me and probably you probably get the same thing as

00:20:46.980 well like how do you do it how do you live in this space every day and I think for me I get to find

00:20:52.080 out the good things I get to see the hundreds of boxes that we receive every week and go well look

00:20:57.320 at all of these households they really do care but I think for other people when you're not in

00:21:02.060 the industry you probably see those negative news headlines you probably see the overflowing

00:21:06.500 rubbish bins you probably go home to your apartment and everybody's put the recycling in the wrong

00:21:10.720 bin so focus on what you can control and not what you can't great advice thank you and i think it is

00:21:18.140 also about habits right because i was so good at bringing my reusable coffee cup i was like just

00:21:26.520 was so intrinsic in my everyday life and then when we couldn't do it do it during covid it's taken a

00:21:33.640 long time to get back to like remembering it so I yeah I think it is about like muscle memory and

00:21:40.680 like almost embedding these habits into your every day that does end up making the difference

00:21:47.440 and I think the most difficult thing from a psychology perspective with waste is you don't

00:21:52.820 really see a difference if that makes sense like your bin just stays empty which yes that is a

00:22:00.020 difference but it's not like you get a pat on the on the back every time you remember your reusable

00:22:05.040 coffee cup or if you take a set of stainless steel cutlery from the kitchen and use that when you're

00:22:10.000 eating your lunch at lunchtime rather than getting a single-use plastic set no one's there like

00:22:14.660 cheering you on and giving you a high five or anything so it can be really hard from a psychology

00:22:20.340 perspective because ultimately not consuming is the best thing that we can be doing but

00:22:25.420 no one sends you an email and it's like thank you so much for not buying from us this week

00:22:30.660 10 points now we've been talking about sustainability um in reference to our

00:22:36.420 kitchens and our households but obviously it touches various industries such as a beauty

00:22:42.700 industry could you tell us more about your relationship to sustainable uh beauty and also

00:22:49.240 what your thoughts are on the industry i think the sustainable beauty industry is one that's

00:22:54.940 really exciting there's a lot of change happening in it which is really great but it can be really

00:23:01.180 overwhelming for the individuals because you're getting a lot of mixed messaging everybody's

00:23:06.560 making these big claims and it's really hard to know what to trust and what to ultimately look for

00:23:12.600 in a sustainable beauty brand it's also very personal as well beauty is all about skin types

00:23:19.020 all about different appearances and what you kind of what your preferences are ultimately

00:23:25.500 but I think for me when it comes to beauty it's no it's kind of sorting by your values and your

00:23:33.680 preferences and for me that could be things like do you want a product that is cruelty free

00:23:39.540 do you want a product that is packaging free do you want a product that is Australian made

00:23:44.140 do you want a product that is vegan and do you want a product that is cost effective do you want

00:23:50.780 a product that is refillable there are so many different things that you can look at but I think

00:23:55.800 rather than trying to find a product that fits all of those I would rank those by in order of

00:24:02.080 priority so for me I'm really into vegan beauty at the moment so that is my number one priority

00:24:08.180 and then refillable is up there for me so that's going to be number two and then I'm going to look

00:24:13.500 for items that kind of first and foremost hit that vegan and then they might be refillable and

00:24:19.360 then we'll go from there because I think if you go out there looking for the perfect product

00:24:24.700 it's going to be very difficult to find it but if you can kind of say well this has hit two out of

00:24:30.600 three of my key priorities so that's a good option for me but I think as well there is a lot of

00:24:37.080 greenwashing in the beauty industry in particular which is something that I focus on a lot but I

00:24:42.300 think if you do get tripped up by greenwashing the biggest thing is to not be disheartened

00:24:50.240 to not throw out that product because it's still you've already got taken at home it's probably

00:24:55.060 open now use up that product even if you've figured out that it's not going to be the best

00:25:00.400 one for the product for the planet and then try again and get back on the horse because

00:25:05.820 as much as I would love to tell you that I have a vegan refillable beauty routine I definitely

00:25:12.460 don't but I'm working towards it and when I feel finished with the product then I will make a switch

00:25:18.020 I am so glad that you brought up that a lot of us fall for green washing because obviously we're

00:25:24.900 all humans we all make quote-unquote mistakes and you're right there's a lot of like shame

00:25:30.560 associated with making these incorrect decisions. I'm wondering, though, do you have any tips on how

00:25:37.320 to spot greenwashing in the wild, whether that be in the beauty or fashion industry?

00:25:44.840 I think my biggest red flag is probably the term eco-friendly and natural. Natural means

00:25:53.700 next to nothing. Natural could mean naturally derived. It could mean, I don't know, a natural

00:26:00.380 look it could be a natural feel like there's no real evidence or kind of claims that can be made

00:26:07.420 around the word natural so that's really my biggest red flag first and foremost um next up

00:26:15.260 a really simple one to do is look for products that have the least number of ingredients i think

00:26:21.460 this could apply to fashion as well mags you're probably better at this part than i am but if

00:26:26.840 you're looking at an ingredient list and it is longer than the length of your arm then chances

00:26:31.820 are if you can't pronounce the items if you can't figure out exactly what they are then they're

00:26:36.660 probably not that good for you so for me i look for products that have got less than say 10

00:26:42.900 ingredients in them hopefully fewer than that and then that's what i really stick to when i'm buying

00:26:48.780 um i also look for a really clear sustainability credential or ethos on a brand's website

00:26:56.560 yes this is coming from the brand directly but it should be really clear you shouldn't have to ask

00:27:02.140 them where the product was made you shouldn't have to ask them what the ingredients are that

00:27:05.720 are in a product if they are open and transparent with what's going on then they will have that

00:27:12.200 information readily available and I also on that I do really appreciate it when a brand acknowledges

00:27:20.240 that they're on a sustainability journey and even if they're not perfect if they have things on their

00:27:25.520 website which are like by 2025 we want to do this by 2030 we want to do this I actually really

00:27:32.500 appreciate that because I think it acknowledges that they have taken the planet into consideration

00:27:37.040 and for larger brands these changes aren't going to happen overnight and they need to be

00:27:42.220 in their lengthy strategies and timelines but at least if they're putting them out there to the

00:27:47.620 public it means that they can be held accountable for reaching these targets. I know that you

00:27:52.760 touched on this a little before, but I just want to explicitly ask you, how do you stay hopeful

00:27:58.500 about the environment when we're faced with such awful news? Yes, it's a really good question. And

00:28:03.620 I think for me, as I said, I'm surrounded by the good news. I'm surrounded by the hope. I'm

00:28:10.960 surrounded by the 25,000 Australians who sent us shoeboxes with all of their recycling in it. I

00:28:18.140 get to meet and engage with 200 volunteers every month who are excited and curious and want to

00:28:24.980 learn more about sustainability for me I am in a fortunate position that I am doing everything I

00:28:33.260 possibly could to create a better future so that for me is really positive because I am in that

00:28:40.220 fortunate position that I don't go to a job every day that doesn't that might contribute to climate

00:28:45.240 change or might contribute to something else that's very negative so I think I have to acknowledge

00:28:51.100 that that I am doing everything that I can which also makes me feel a lot better but I am also

00:28:58.020 surrounded by people who care about the planet until I get to TikTok and then there's plenty

00:29:04.020 of people that aren't but for me it's about staying positive and it's about surrounding

00:29:10.960 yourself with people who feel like you do and who are willing to make changes but again when I do

00:29:17.800 see what's happening outside of my little bubble and it's not all sunflowers and daisies it's just

00:29:24.120 remembering that everybody's on their own journey and no one is perfect and you don't know what

00:29:30.280 they're doing behind closed doors I probably because I've got family in Queensland fly a lot

00:29:35.820 more than most people because I travel back to see them so that already my carbon footprint is

00:29:41.400 probably a lot higher than a lot of other people but I can't judge them for what they do and don't

00:29:47.200 do if they use a single-use coffee cup every day so run your own race is my biggest piece of advice

00:29:53.000 don't compare yourself to others and really just try and stay in your own lane and really control

00:29:59.580 what you can control you might be able to influence your office or your workspace to be

00:30:04.980 able to recycle better. That's something you can control, but you're not going to be able to

00:30:10.040 influence every other level on the building because you don't control what they do with

00:30:16.180 their waste. Run your own race. I love that as a good takeaway here. Okay, Lottie, we've got only

00:30:23.660 a couple of questions left for you today. We want to know, are there any exciting projects that

00:30:29.500 you're working on that you can share with us? So for me, a couple of projects that I'm working

00:30:34.240 on right now are we're about to hopefully announce I'm not sure if it'll be ready by the time this

00:30:41.260 podcast goes live but two new streams that will start be it will start recycling with Brad so

00:30:47.940 just adding more streams to the repertoire which is really exciting but I'm just going through that

00:30:53.760 due diligence process at the moment to make sure it's all being recycled and what happens to the

00:30:59.760 end product. So that's probably one of my biggest things at the moment, aside from just educating

00:31:06.060 more people. That's what I get to spend my day doing every single day. So there is no business

00:31:11.940 as usual. It's just really getting out there and reaching and helping teach as many people as

00:31:18.100 possible. So I'm hoping to release a couple more eBooks in the next couple of weeks as well.

00:31:24.140 So amazing. And if people want to know more about you and your work, where can they find you?

00:31:29.340 yes so everything is available at banish.com.au all of the information about brad um you can

00:31:35.660 follow us on instagram which is at banish.au or my personal account at lottiedl or on tiktok

00:31:43.440 at banish.au and then lottie spelled then dl spelled properly to wrap up our conversation

00:31:50.240 lottie uh every week on our podcast we give our listeners recommendations on what we've

00:31:55.400 either enjoyed reading, listening to or watching recently. Can you please share a recommendation

00:32:01.240 you've been loving? So I'm a big fiction reader because I think I spend so much of my day like

00:32:09.060 reading studies and statistics and things like that so I always have to read fiction before I

00:32:13.320 go to sleep and the book club book that we've just finished is called The Women by Kristen Hanna

00:32:19.580 and five out of five absolutely loved it it was historical fiction which is my favorite genre

00:32:26.040 and yeah it was beautiful and heartbreaking but an amazing read oh maybe we could recommend to

00:32:33.020 our book club mags i love historical fiction it's also one of my fave genres so definitely keen

00:32:39.740 thank you so much again for joining us today lottie we've really loved it thank you also

00:32:44.900 for always just spreading the good word no thanks so much for having me bye

Culture Club - March 26, 2024

Everyday Sustainability With Environmental Advocate Lottie Dalziel

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