‘Townsville is definitely punching above its weight’: First ever Circular Futures NQ summit kicks off
Building homes from hemp, turning coffee grounds and cyclone waste into compost, and solar micro-grids were just some local ideas placed under a spotlight at a recent Townsville summit.
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All things green and eco were put centre stage at a recent two-day summit in Townsville, where everything from saving clothes from landfill, to micro-grids, coffee grounds, and even AI, was discussed.
Called ‘Circular Futures NQ’, the summit was aimed at shining a light on small local businesses doing great work in the eco or ‘circular economy’ spaces.
The 1,000,000 coffee challenge was one local project given a spotlight at the event.
Run by Atlas Soils, the coffee challenge is currently being run across Townsville with collection boxes at several local schools, encouraging people to save their used coffee grounds from the bin.
Atlas Soil then combines the coffee grounds with fruit peels, cyclone debris and other waste to create Humisoil - a rich compost product they have been spreading around local gardens, some of which you’ve definitely driven past without even noticing.
Other businesses featured at the summit including Townsville City Council who spoke about their vision for a ‘regenerative city’, South Townsville-based hemp manufacturer Wandarra, and Cairns-based ‘We Made It’ which aims to create ‘micro factories’ in Indigenous communities to create biofuel, off-grid energy, and biochar.
The ‘Circular Futures NQ’ summit was held May 14-15, and was organised by Smart Precinct NQ.
Smart Precinct NQ CEO Cassandra Cazzulino said the summit was the first of three they plan to host over the next three years.
“Townsville is definitely punching above its weight,” Mrs Cazzulino said.
“A lot of industry summits like this will focus on the large businesses, but we wanted to focus on the small, grassroots people going great things in this city.”
All the presentations given at the summit were recorded by Smart Precinct NQ, and will be uploaded soon on their website.
Originally published as ‘Townsville is definitely punching above its weight’: First ever Circular Futures NQ summit kicks off
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