Zero waste: Tammy Logan is committed to living a plastic and waste-free life

TAMMY Logan has made it her mission to talk trash, writes SARAH HUDSON.

That’s a wrap: Tammy Logan, who runs Gippsland Unwrapped, holds a jar that contains her year’s worth waste. Picture: ZOE PHILLIPS

TAMMY Logan has made it her mission to talk trash.

Since launching her blog in 2015 — called Gippsland Unwrapped — the mother-of-two is inspiring a generation renowned for unprecedented levels of consumption to live zero-waste, plastic-free lives.

“It’s not about beating yourself up, but about doing the best you can at the time,” Tammy says.

“It’s remarkably easy to reduce a lot of your household waste just by being a bit prepared — like taking your own shopping and produce bags, as well as your own containers.

“Doing something is better than doing nothing.”

Written from a Nyora dairy farm, which her husband, Shannon, manages, Gippsland Unwrapped has so far had 350,000 views and details the 37-year-old’s daily quest to reduce waste.

One of her most popular posts is sugaring — using sugar, water and lemon juice as a wax replacement for hair removal (“like making candy but stop before you get to the candy stage”).

There is advice on the remarkable uses of eucalyptus oil (stain remover, disinfectant and added to homemade laundry powder), as well as how to make hair bands made from upcycled clothing, recycling contact lenses and whether you can use out-of-date first-aid stock.

One post alone has been viewed 47,000 times, which details the law around bringing your own food containers for meat.

Where she cannot avoid packaging, she opts for recycling and bulk buying using BYO containers.

The result is that the Logans produce less than one handful of landfill per week, with one bucket of recycling.

Such is her belief in the zero waste mission, Tammy quit her day job to focus on the blog.

She says growing up on a dairy farm in West Gippsland instilled in her an innate love of the environment.

“We didn’t have much money growing up and our holidays were spent camping by the bush,” she says.

“I loved rivers and creeks, and growing up on the farm you are much more connected to the outdoors.

“I had a lot of freedom people don’t have these days.”

Tammy studied conservation, biology and ecology, and later completed a post-graduate science communications course.

It was while working at the West Gippsland Catchment Management Authority that she saw a presentation by researchers that revealed the contents of a bird’s stomach —
“a real eye-opener”.

“I knew about animals being entangled in rubbish but I didn’t realise it was that bad,” she says.

“There were hundreds of pieces of plastic in the bird’s stomach and we were told that was increasingly the norm.

“After that I got really annoyed. I thought I was a person doing everything in my means about these problems — we couldn’t afford solar but we conserved electricity and water, for instance.”

In 2015 Tammy was googling solutions when she came across Plastic Free July.

She posted her zero waste forays on her personal Facebook page
and at the end of that month
friends urged her to continue with a blog, rather than finishing the experiment.

She launched it in August 2015 and on her first day she had 4000 views for a post on how to make a cubby house from salvaged materials.

Four months later she quit her job.

“It was just something I wanted to do, and have no regrets,” she says.

“If it failed I could get another job.

“I’m not earning money but I’m not spending it either — I’ve estimated we’re saving about $600 a month — so we can afford to be a one-wage family.”

Tammy says blogging is almost a full-time job, while she now earns a small wage giving talks and later this year will run zero-waste tours of her home.

As an ambassador to Australia’s Garage Sale Trail, she will be at the Poowong Pickers Festival on
October 21-22.

She acknowledges it is easy to become swept up in the zeal and says she and her husband have relaxed the rules with their two children, aged six and eight.

“The older one was getting grumpy about it, so rather than saying, ‘You have to do this’, which makes him hate it, I give them decision-making,” Tammy says.

“It’s not about chasing the perfectionist idea.

“Even with myself, I like the challenge but sometimes have to
let it go. You know you’ve done the best you can and move on. I feel better now than doing nothing.

“Before I felt overwhelmed and hopeless, and now I see individuals have power, that making good decisions every day collectively makes a huge difference.”

gippslandunwrapped.com