Friends of the Earth (FOE) was established in Australia in 1969, and a branch was formed in Newcastle in July 1989. With branches in Maitland and Cessnock, FOE had enough resources by 1990 (in terms of money and people with energy) to publish a four-page monthly newsletter.

In 1989 the Newcastle FOE focused on the issue of recycling. At the end of the year they reported that they were "…very disappointed at the lack of responsibility taken by our local councils for linking the piecemeal recycling services, increasing their availability and efficiency, and for circulating information about these services. Maitland FOE group earlier in 1989 were instrumental in getting their council moving into recycling issues and we hope to do likewise in our area."

Newcastle FOE "…presented a petition in October to Federal Minister, Peter Morris, for the One World Campaign which requested our Government reduce defence expenditure by 1% and redirect the money into foreign aid. The campaign, supported by a large number of groups, holds that there is a link between world poverty and the state of the environment" .

The group participated in Milk Bottle Day in November by gathering the empty cartons and plastic bottles consumed by an average family over a six month period. They then created a display at Wallsend Plaza featuring signs like 'what a load of old rubbish', which represented a persuasive argument for milk producers to return to using reusable glass bottles.

The majority of activists in both the Newcastle and Maitland groups were women who obviously found the experience empowering. They reported that "…through all these activities we are learning to speak in public and use media to spread information and help others to help the environment. We use our monthly meetings to share information gained from many sources and to support and encourage each other in making changes in our day to day lives."

Friends of the Earth was based on the philosophy that ordinary people could and would change their habits when presented with information about how necessary this was if the earth was to avoid environmental degradation and disaster. This was summed up in the Reduce, Re-use and Recycle slogan. FOE realised, however, that the task of changing mainstream attitudes was not going to be easy and that "…at times it is hard to go against the mainstream of consumerism and challenge our own habits."

Leonie La Hay, one of the key figures in Friends of the Earth, elaborated on this theme in a lengthy article published in the Newcastle Green Movement's newsletter in 1990. "The earth simply cannot support our growing population and our escalating use of limited resources and the resulting pollution. Overpopulation is often seen as a third world problem, however people in the wealthy countries (a minority of the world's population) consume four fifths of the world's resources. We have the ability to choose a less greedy, lower energy future. We can, as individuals, consume less…[W]e must respond to the alarms now; make choices to become informed and to act for survival."

During 1990, FOE membership rose to nearly 50 and monthly meetings continued with an average attendance of about 10 people. The group focused on strategies aimed at gaining support and informing the community.

• Store Display April 19th (Earth Day), Stockland Mall Jesmond
• Store Display June 5th (World Environment Day), Garden City Kotara
• Store Display September 22nd, Wallsend Shopping Centre
• Environment Fun Week, October (Mount Hutton)
• Environment Week, June (University of Newcastle)
• Palm Sunday Peace March
• May Day March
• Sustainable Development and a Consumer Society, Weekend Seminar with guest speaker Ted Trainer
• Regional FOE lunch at Botanic Gardens

"The highlight of the group's activities was National Wastebusters Day on November 22nd when we organised local residents and office workers to bring their recyclable garbage to Civic Park for collection by the two largest recycling companies in Newcastle." This successful media event aimed to show council that many people wanted to participate in recycling, a point confirmed by the response from the public. It was also part of a national event organised by FOE. People were invited to sign a petition calling on council to introduce a recycling service. Consisting of over 1,800 signatures, the petition was presented to Lord Mayor Jim McNaughton who offered to meet with the group early in 1991 to discuss the issue. Two months later, with much pleasure, FOE announced that a monthly house-to-house collection of recyclable goods had begun. This further allowed FOE to put increased pressure on Lake Macquarie Council to follow suit, which it did later that year.

FOE also had a statewide campaign in NSW asking the Government to pass legislation requiring a deposit to be made on beverage containers so that people would have a financial incentive to return them. In Newcastle alone, over 1600 people signed a petition. The Minister for the Environment said, "…the matter raised is being considered." There has however been no further progress on this issue.

In January 1991 FOE held their National Conference at Morpeth. It was hosted by Maitland FOE with about 40 delegates from around Australia attending the two-day meeting. Significant local issues included "…the $600 million expansion of Tomago Aluminium, ICI's proposed Mine Technology Park at Kurri, the proposed Ashlands chemical plant at Rutherford, and alleged toxic waste dumping on Kooragang Island." The conference also involved discussion of national issues such as the logging of Fraser Island.

The Hunter manufacturers of the 'Eco' shopping bag told delegates they had sold 4000 of their cloth bags and had already kept hundreds of thousands of plastic bags out of circulation. The conference said FOE in the Hunter would closely monitor industries moving into the area from Sydney.

In 1987 many of the people who were later to form the Newcastle branch of FOE decided to produce a weekly radio program which they called 'Biodegradable Radio'. It ran for 90 minutes each Sunday, beginning in late 1987 and finishing in late 1991. Over the four years that it went to air, the producers of Biodegradable Radio had interviews with many people, played music with a message, and read short articles on local, state, national and international issues.

The program didn't confine itself to environmental issues. It addressed social issues such as unemployment, land rights and other issues relating to Aboriginal people, women's issues, and peace. Some of the people who helped produce the program were Vicki Peterson, Peter Poole, Meta McBeth, Nicole Steinke, Rudy Gotz and Leonie La Hay. The main reason for the demise of the program was that the people doing the work each week were also involved in the Newcastle Greens, FOE and other groups. The workload was simply too great for the relatively small number of people involved.

While the Maitland and Cessnock branches of FOE continued into the late 1990s, the Newcastle group ran out of energy during 1992. This was due to various factors. One key woman retired due to family commitments, others left town and some gave their time and energy to the Newcastle Greens, the Wilderness Society and/or Greenpeace.

In 1999 FOE did still have members in Newcastle and a contact address. Their calendar for that year stated that FOE "…is a national network of grassroots groups that cooperate in their work for a better social and ecological environment. FOE believes that a social perspective is integral to environmental campaigning and that we will not achieve environmental sustainability until we also achieve a fair and equitable society."

The campaign against waste, however, continued under the direction of other groups. Once a recycling service was established, various people focused on ways to reduce the amount of waste material going into the system. Reducing the amount of packaging was one important factor and so a Don't Take the Wrap campaign began in Newcastle in 1993.

In early 1994 a report by the Newcastle Greens was forwarded to households in the Newcastle City Council area. It stated that "Don't Take the Wrap is a campaign to encourage everyone to be less wasteful, and it has been one of our main activities during the last 12 months." The campaign was critical of fast-food outlets that produce huge amounts of packaging. When a new McDonalds franchise opened in the mall in 1994, a protest was organised by the Newcastle Greens and other 'green' groups. Putting McDonald's in the spotlight brought some success when the company replaced its polystyrene foam containers with paper containers. A later move to have the McDonalds franchise at Mayfield use reusable crockery and cutlery met with failure and the 'fast-food giants' continue to produce huge amounts of waste products each year.

Logo from FOE leaflet, World Environment Day, 5/6/93.

In 1993 Newcastle sent 150,000 tonnes of garbage to the dump. In order to conserve limited landfill space, council decided to aim to reduce this figure to 80,000 tonnes by the year 2000. This figure, however, proved to be unrealistic. By 2001, 85% of households were recycling 30,000 tonnes each year, but still throw out 150,000 tonnes of garbage.

It was widely recognised that past levels of waste disposal in landfill were not sustainable. In 1995 the NSW Government passed the Waste Minimisation and Management Act, which established Regional Waste Boards to undertake the following functions:

• Coordinate waste services in the region
• Ensure Council adopts efficient waste management practices and policies
• Ensure Council operates in accordance with the principles of ecologically sustainable development.

Public awareness of the need to recycle has grown significantly during the last decade. The attitude of local Council has also radically changed. Waste disposal is no longer a matter of finding a convenient spot to dump it and then smoothing some topsoil over the surface. Growing affluence, which encourages conspicuous consumption, has to some extent offset these gains. The "shop till you drop" mentality of many people is still alive and well.

published at: http://www.wesleyinstitute.edu.au/publications/green_c/foe.asp