Meet Steve 

Conversations with a super star

Have you met Steve? You probably have, because he is incredibly active in the community, and is passionate about reducing waste and over-consumption.

Here we talk about how to clean up a town centre and the importance of engaging with young people.

For those living in the Toronto area, you will know and admire Steve. He is a passionate advocate for reducing waste, and for changing our behaviour around littering and consumption.

Steve has collaborated with local businesses to encourage uptake of reusable coffee cups.

Steve is the dynamo behind the Tossers can be Binners project that has transformed the Toronto town centre over the last 5 years. The project has focused on clean up efforts, community education, working with local businesses, and having public place recycling bins installed in key spots.

 “I’m really proud of what we’ve achieved in Toronto. There used to be a lot of rubbish everywhere, and that’s all pretty much stopped.”

 “The wider community have been really appreciative. Especially when they know that it’s a volunteer and community effort behind it. We often got people coming over to say ‘thanks very much – it really needed to be done’. I think they are pleased to see people doing something about it.”

Making these changes wasn’t always easy. Steve concedes that having to work through bureaucracy and different processes was frustrating at times. They were careful to keep Council and local businesses on side.

“We basically kept the project quite low key, and acknowledged that it was a change for local businesses. We were careful to make it a minimal hassle and avoid creating extra work for them.”

Collaboration with local businesses to switch away from single use plastics

“We just kept emphasising the waste reduction message. You can tell that people are more aware of the problem and are keen to get rid of single use plastics.

They have seen the pictures of turtles tangled in plastic and are aware of the impact on our oceans.”

“We just need to realise that we don’t need these single use items, and that we can at least use less of them, or switch to more sustainable alternatives.”

Steve has been a member of the Toronto Area Sustainable Neighbourhood Group since it was established in 2012. For him, it’s a good way to work together to improve the community.

“I think it’s just basically trying to make the community better in sustainable ways. I’ve always been a community-type person, and involved in different community organisations. Since I retired a few years back I’ve had more time to do that.”

“I think it’s a great opportunity to work with like-minded people. We mange to keep the meeting and administrative tasks fairly minimal, so that we can offer projects that people can get enthusiastic about.”

Working with local fast food retailers to reduce litter.

"It’s made a lot of connections for me in the wider community. It’s a good social opportunity and I’ve made genuine friends.”

Working with young people is also a priority for Steve.

“I’m a teacher, so I’ve always been involved with younger people in education. In high schools, there are always some really committed kids who are worried about climate change and what we can do about it. They know there’s problems out there and we should be doing something.

“I think it’s important that we educate and support young people to make these big changes. They are the future after all.”

Steve is a founding member of the Toronto Area Sustainable Neighbourhood Group, and their current Treasurer. He leads the waste and recycling projects for the group. Steve is also Secretary of the Alliance Board. Steve was also awarded Lake Macquarie Volunteer of the Year in 2015.

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