With the frustratingly slow progress on establishing nationwide container deposit schemes, some enterprising companies are coming up with the own solutions. The Box Cycle is one such alternative to resorting to landfill. It looks like a vending machine, and can either be used for reuse/refill, or more traditional recycling. And in addition to credits for cans, it’s trees for containers. Accumulate bottles and/or cans and have native trees planted on your behalf.

Here at Fifteen Trees we get excited about any initiative that means more trees in the ground. We’re very excited to partner with The Box Cycle to plant trees on their customers’ behalf. The trees are planted by community tree planting groups across Australia. The trees are a mix of eucalypts and acacia species adapted to their surrounding area. These have a good chance of survival, and will go on to absorb carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, provide wildlife with habitat, create green corridors, improve biodiversity, help reverse the effects of erosion and rising water tables, and provide shade and beauty in our open spaces.

The Murrundindi region of Central Victoria, an area of outstanding natural beauty, has felt the sharp edge of climate change in recent decades. The Upper Goulburn Landcare Network (UGLN) was delighted to receive the first batch of trees (100) from The Box Cycle, for one of their revegetation projects. From devastating bushfires, through diminishing habitat, to the more insidious changes in temperature and rainfall that alter native flora growth patterns, the region has taken a battering. It needs us, and it needs the trees provided by generous sponsors like The Box Cycle.

There are plenty of reasons to look forward to 2021, and we think this is one of them. Look out for the launch of The Box Cycle in your local area early next year.