Katherine Junk Festival recycles waste into sculptures, costumes

Turning trash into treasure (ABC Katherine: Roxanne Fitzgerald)

Trash is treasured in the small town of Katherine where options for dealing with waste are limited.

There is no kerbside recycling and no sorting into red, yellow and green bins.

A semi-trailer load of crushed beer cans and glass bottles is picked up from a sorting centre once a month and driven south — but as far as recycling goes, that's about it.

Max Paez says Junk Festival brings focus to the issue of waste managment. (ABC Katherine: Roxanne Fitzgerald)

Junk Festival volunteer Max Paez said the event brought the whole town together.

While the festival, now in its tenth year, might only divert a small amount of rubbish from landfill, he hoped the take home message about the immense, eternal footprint of waste was made clear.

Sculptures made from discarded materials are entered in competitions at Junk Fest.  (ABC Katherine: Roxanne Fitzgerald)

"We do have some things happening in our community around recycling but the more we have Junk Fest, the more we get people together around this common issue, we can keep putting a little bit more pressure on those people who make those decisions."

Reduce and reuse

Katherine residents have been lobbying for more options to deal with waste since long before the inception of the Junk Festival.

The landfill site for the small town of about 10,000 is ageing and needs to be closed in the next five years — making the need for innovative recycling ideas a pressing matter.

Katherine Town Council last year decided against costly kerbside recycling.

Constantina Bush performed at the festival alongside a line up of local musical talents.  (ABC Katherine: Roxanne Fitzgerald)

Performer Constantina Bush said the festival provided a perfect opportunity to stress the importance of reducing and reusing – especially as the population grew.

"All these kids coming up now, the millennials, they are the ones we are going to leave the country to," she said. 

Penny Fawkner's sculpture of a bower bird won her a coveted first place prize.  (ABC Katherine: Roxanne Fitzgerald)

Katherine resident Penny Fawkner said while there was a great need for recycling in her town, greater focus was needed elsewhere.

"But often what is not spoken about enough is the reduce part of it and regulating big business to stop being so profligate and immoral with what they are doing.

"Now they are cracking down on petroleum, their new big goal is plastic."

The Junk Festival encourages people to reduce, recycle and reuse rubbish. (ABC Katherine: Roxanne Fitzgerald)

Turning trash into treasure

Dozens of pieces were on display on Saturday night for an event that drew 2,600 people, by far its biggest crowd.

Rubbish was fashioned into clothes for a parade, dancers wore old tents to perform and the message to reduce, reuse and recycle was ubiquitous.

"The festival has really brought everyone together as well as bringing a lot of attention to an issue in Katherine that concerns everyone," Mr Paez said.

"The way that we process our waste is a very important thing in any community."

Mandy Edge Tootell transformed trash into wearable art for Junk Fest.  (ABC Katherine: Roxanne Fitzgerald)

It came as options for dealing with waste increased.

The federal government announced $7.2 million to fund a materials recovery facility in Katherine in February to "ensure people have access to recycling facilities, particularly, in this case, for glass, tyres, plastic and paper".

But residents will still need to sort, and deliver, their junk to the sorting centre if they want to recycle their waste.