Local circular champions

Here in Darebin we have active community champions promoting local circular economy initiatives.

Village Greening

Amelia Trompf has been recognised as a leader in sustainability, receiving the 2025 Darebin Climate and Sustainability Community Award for her outstanding contributions to the circular economy through her work with Village Greening.

Through her work alongside Rachel Bendall and Christine Pinniger in Village Greening, the Fairfield Village now has:

• 3 retailers participating in the soft plastic recycling program
• 4 fully stocked cup libraries to reduce disposable cup waste
• 10 cafes collecting coffee grounds to be composted locally
• 12 festive Christmas wreaths made from used advertising banners
• 90 metres of handmade reusable Christmas bunting
• 3 bag libraries in the village, and over 4,000 reusable shopping bags replacing single-use plastic bags.

_{Image: Village Greening accept a certificate of appreciation from Cr Kristine Olaris at the Darebin Community Awards 2025. Photo by Nicole Cleary.}

Through these initiatives, Village Greening are not only creating opportunities for community education, but also offering practical solutions to local traders. Village Greening has also hosted numerous events to promote sustainable living and facilitate collection of hard to recycle household items.

Some of these projects have been supported through the council’s community grant program, and are powered by a dedicated team of volunteers and strong partnerships within the community.

Amelia acknowledges that driving behavioural change can be challenging and often pushes her beyond her comfort zone. Yet, her deep passion for the natural environment and the urgent need for action continue to motivate her. As she puts it:

“It’s not up to a few driven people – everyone must play their part.”

Amelia’s work exemplifies how grassroots action can lead to meaningful, scalable change. Her efforts are not only greening Fairfield Village but also inspiring a broader movement toward a more sustainable and connected future.

Darebin Hard Rubbish Heroes

In 2020, Darebin residents Jo Press and Jackie Lewis launched the Facebook group Darebin Hard Rubbish Heroes after Jo witnessed large amounts of perfectly usable household items being crushed during hard rubbish collection and sent to landfill.

Motivated to create a practical, community‑driven solution, they established the online group to help residents easily rehome usable items and keep valuable materials in circulation.

The response was immediate. The group attracted 1,000 members in its first week, and has since grown to more than 26,000 members, becoming one of Darebin’s most active circular economy communities. Every day, residents rehome a huge variety of items through thousands of monthly posts, either by offering goods they no longer need or by posting ISO (in search of) requests to locate second‑hand items instead of buying new. As Jo and Jackie emphasise:

“One person’s trash can truly be another person’s treasure.”

Building on this momentum, the group opened its first physical store, the ‘reLove pop‑up shop’ in 2022. During its two‑month pilot, the store rehomed over 4,000 items, diverting approximately 3 tonnes of material from landfill. In 2023, the second ‘reLove shop’ scaled up this impact, rehoming 13 tonnes of household items.

The group continued to run free markets in 2025, attended by 2000 community members in total. Their commitment is grounded in a belief that existing materials are more than enough to meet community needs. “There are more than enough material items in existence. Sharing and offering to others is making use of what already exists – we hope this is helping to normalise second-hand."

_{Image: Darebin Hard Rubbish Heroes founders Jackie Lewis and Jo Press}

They also ran a series of repair workshops, so that more people can repair and reuse instead of buying new. The team also actively supports local charities, including Big Group Hug and RIMERN, by collecting much‑needed goods, as well as financial donations from their pop-up shop and online auction proceeds.

Their commitment to circular economy and supporting the community was formally recognised in the 2020 Darebin Community Awards, where they received the Sustainability Award.

More than a rehoming platform, Darebin Hard Rubbish Heroes has become an important educational space. Members regularly seek advice on recycling, repair and reuse. As the founders note, “Members post questions about ways to reuse all sorts of items and materials. We are learning so much from each other”.

By facilitating the community to share, repair and reuse, the group is strengthening the circular economy within Darebin, encouraging residents to ask, “What can I do with this?” before sending something to landfill.