15/06/2024
The doors have been closed on Lixo Environmental Services, and with that I am filled with a mixed garbage bag of emotions.
Like all failed businesses, the smell of failure is a prominent odor, but I guess there are many things that have helped us on this journey to flop. As a Lament to Lixo, please indulge me, a sentimental old garbage man, as I say this public goodbye.
Firstly, our Triumphs. Over the past 6 years Lixo has been involved in 30 different events and festivals, setting up and cleaning up over 70 times. From barren cityscapes to rainforests, tropical islands to drag strips, we hired more than 150 people to pick up over 100,000kg of rubbish, diverting more than half of that from Landfill. We build a washstation trailer, transported 1000s of pieces of second hand porcelain crockery and washed dishes in the mouth of hell. We trained volunteers and patrons to try to be better, make conscious choices, Reduce, Reuse bla bla bla.
For all the do-gooderey, I am left with this overwhelming feeling that we were trying to stop the world from turning, putting tape on a crumbling dam wall, bringing a spooney to a knifey fight. The notion of the world hurtling towards destruction really got to me over the years, but perhaps not as much as the mask I was often employed to provide.
Terms like ‘Sustainability','Zero Waste’ and ‘Leave No Trace’ are used with such reckless abandon that it seemed there was no need to provide a pudding as proof, simply a box that said PUDDING on the outside was enough, and a receipt of course. This became so very evident as the world returned to normal (hmm) after the Plague.
I began to have to fight for initiatives to be redopted, trying to justify things that were obvious before. The incentive, of course was economic, but I realised that the price of sustainability was a luxury, while the cost of that extra artist was necessity to sell tickets, make back some lost money. And I get it, the industry was rocked and so poorly supported compared to many others that some things needed the chop. But you can't just simply say ‘it's too expensive to care about stuff enough to act on them’, and this my friends became my cross to bear. The one that still cared, the one that would slowly walk out of the desert and shine light on the world and let everyone know things would be alright.
But I got bitter, and cynical, my own financial woes mounting and the revelations, relentless, remorseless and rotten, seemed a constant distraction to my cross bearing situation. I began to realise that, although all of this should matter, it kind of doesn't. Well, not in the way we feel we needs it to matter.
Saving resources from Landfill at a couple of Festivals isn't making the world a better place. Although it's making those festivals better, I began to feel like it was actually a bad thing in some ways. People I've talked to at events are able to convince themselves that we are all going to be alright, seeing change on such a small scale satisfies their intrinsic need to see positive change happening, and their own actions become irrelevant because they believe they are now part of something bigger and better. Once people knew we hand sort every piece of rubbish, they feel free to use any bin despite the sign on it. Once they knew we litter pick the dance floors with litter pickers, rakes and even vacuums, dropping things feels more ok. We were making it seem like everything was fine, go back to your hedonism and escape.
And I know this, because I feel this. If someone is willing to take on the huge emotional weight of caring about something, I’ll contribute to that charity, cheer them on, all while remaining emotionally comfortable. What am I actually trying to say here though? Give up? Let the world continue to be pillaged and ruined by Billionaires? I'm not really sure. But I think this burn out is all too common in those who choose the path less with the grain. I think the expectation that you can manifest change through stubbornness means you snap, when someone more flexible bounces back.
All I know is that Lixo Environmental Services was an experience that filled me to the brim with every emotion. I played in piles of Garbage all over Australia, made so many friends and learnt so much about myself. I genuinely made people cry and scream at me (not proud of that obvs.) but also I changed people lives, built community and fellowship and drove so many crazy vehicles in so many beautiful parts of the country, and I made that all happen. I've got too many people to thank in this Journey, so please excuse me for not naming you all by name. But a special thanks to Oscar Steed, for the 200+ hours we've spent on the phone these last few years.
Ashes to Ashes,
Lixo to lixo. And so,
Thanks for all the bins
Former Director of Lixo Environmental Services,
Henry
