Yass Valley Eco Champs – Tootsie Gallery and Café

Yass Valley Eco Champs is a Council-run promotional program, which recognises local businesses that increase their environmental sustainability, and this week’s highlighted business is Tootsie Gallery and Café.

Tootsie Gallery and Café was created by mosaic artist and mentoring practitioner, Cayla Pothan, who works hard to ensure that her business is more sustainable. Cayla does this by:

• enabling customers to take used coffee grounds produced by the café home to incorporate into their compost or garden at home. In fact, 80-90 per cent of the coffee grounds are disposed of this way
• ensuring that food is made to order so that there is very little food waste
• inviting customers to take washed gelato containers (from the café’s 24 flavours available) home for free
• recycling all cardboard, either through commercial recycling or using it as packaging for Cayla’s artworks
• running creative workshops at the Gallery including Making Garden Art from Junk, and a Steampunk art workshop using “rubbish” items such as old toys, bottle tops, nuts and bolts, formula spoons and safety pins.

Cayla said that her main concern at the moment is milk bottles. While they are all recycled (including the lids, which the café collects for Lids for Kids), Cayla would like to avoid using them altogether. She is currently investigating a way to source milk that doesn’t involve so much single use plastic.

“I’m always looking to see what else we can do,” says Cayla. “I’ve always been passionate about looking after the environment. I’ve got kids, and I really want to take care of our environment for their future”.

If you are a local business owner and would like to be featured in the Yass Valley Eco Champs program, please email Rebecca at council@yass.nsw.gov.au

• Topics:

• Local Council
• Environment
• Local Business / Economy