Community and advocacy

The Nature Connection Storytelling Pod featured at Winter in the Valley festival in Lenah Valley, Hobart. 

Ku-ring-gai Council and AUSMAP (Australian Microplastic Assessment Project) have visited UNSW labs as part of the Hub's synthetic grass microplastics project.  

The Hub is supporting a new community-led initiative in the town of Snug, Tasmania, to tackle harmful wood heater emissions. 

“End of life products are literally just products waiting to be remade into something else.” 

The Nature Connection project attended the 18th Biennale Conference on Communication and the Environment in Hobart. 

Wood heaters are a feature of many Australian homes, but they remain one of the country’s most significant sources of air pollution. 

The Hub’s commitment to supporting circular economies in regional and remote communities was showcased at the 2025 Western Cape Futures Symposium, held in Weipa this May.

The UNSW Library has unveiled the Materials Revolution exhibition, showcasing Hub research and helping to shift community views of waste resources. 

Hub leader Prof Veena Sahajwalla AO participated in a judging panel for Rotary's Pitch for Purpose event as part of the Sustainability and Humanitarian Summit.

Hub leader Prof Veena Sahajwalla AO recently joined CNBC’s IoT: Enabling Sustainability Through Technology panel to discuss the role of technology in advancing sustainability. 

The Plastic and Waste Materials team set up a stall to showcase how innovative waste solutions can drive sustainability as part of the transition to a circular economy.

The Hub contributes expertise to a Planet Shapers episode on improving tyre circularity in Australia

On this International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we celebrate the remarkable women leading groundbreaking research in the Sustainable Communities and Waste (SCa

The Hub took part in Blacktown City’s Australia Day celebrations to further our goal of supporting strong and engaged sustainable communities. 

Festive presents and decorations can release microplastics into the environment. 

Hub research is translated to a local scale at the Local Government NSW (LGNSW) annual conference in Tamworth. 

Dr Emily Flies, Hub researcher and Co-lead of the Sustainable People-Environment Interactions project, has been awarded the Green Gown Award Australasia's Staff Champion for Sustainability.

The Productivity Commission has published the Hub leader UNSW SMaRT Centre's detailed submission for its inquiry into “opportunities in the circular economy”.