Regional grant helps Cairns become more sustainable

Darren enjoying a curry from a Vegware container

Thanks to the generous support of the Queensland Community Foundation (QCF), our Cairns branch has been able to take steps forward to become a more sustainable outreach.

The QCF Regional grant has allowed us to purchase biodegradable takeaway containers from local supplier Vegware. Due to a lack of services in the local area, Cairns provides substantial meals to our patrons and it was important to local branch coordinators, Werner & Gina Rossbach, that we found a sustainable solution.

The shift from takeaway containers was originally prompted by lockdowns that affected the region in 2020, but as the containers allowed us to more closely monitor food safety and hygiene protocols it made sense to keep using them. “The Vegware containers are fantastic and allow our patrons to save some of their meal for later should they want to stretch things out.

We are so grateful for the support of QCF and that we could buy from a local supplier as we all know how important it is to support local business these days.” Werner said.

The grant from Queensland Community Foundation will provide enough containers for six months at current outreach levels and allows funds that would have been used to purchase containers, to be spent elsewhere on other needed resources in Cairns.