describing it at the moment is as a sustainability hub. One third of the space will be a physical retail store for Banish, one third will be for our recycling program BRAD (Banish recycling and disposal program), which has absolutely blown up, and then the other third will be heavy on education. We’ll be teaching people [about sustainable practices] through workshops like bees-wax wrap making workshops, or candle-making, composting and recycling workshops, as a way for people to connect and learn about sustainability.  Banish founder Lottie Dalziel It’s not something you’d typically stumble across in the middle of Sydney CBD. We’re trying to shake it up by offering something that’s new – its in an old pharmacy, but it’s filled with this range of brand-new products that have no plastic, and are made in small batches from different suppliers. We’re creating what should be the norm, and should be the future, and leading by example, by showing that you can have values that are planet-positive, and it can be accessible to people. I feel like so many sustainable stores and businesses end up being so niche and small, which is beautiful, but we also need to reach a mass audience. It’s hard when you don’t have the advertising budget that bigger brands do, so I’m excited for some smaller brands to be able to use our space to connect with their customers.  IR: I did want to touch on that, because up until now Banish has been entirely online. Where did the idea come from to push into physical retail? LD: We’ve been looking at expanding our space, mainly to create more room to accommodate BRAD. I put some feelers out through our network and we were offered the opportunity to go into this retail space: it wasn’t necessarily a conscious decision, we weren’t seeking out the chance to open our own store, but when the opportunity presented itself I thought, ‘this is probably in five-year plan, not our six-month plan, but we’re a start-up, we’re flexible, and we can give it a try and see what happens’.  IR: I think it’s really interesting that you’re splitting up the space into thirds. Can you tell me a bit about the education side of the store? LD: We’re going to run workshops and talks with the community, but we’re also going to have an always-on aspect to the education. That will operate like a mini-sustainability museum, where you can come in and interact with the displays. One might have different recycling bins, where you can try to match each type of waste to the right bin and see if you get it right. One might have different types of soil and compostable products, and then, over time, you can see how they break down.  It’s about bringing these concepts to life, and creating a space where people feel safe asking questions and to be a learner. We get so many people that come to our talks and workshops that tell us, ‘the reason I’m here is because my kids are better at recycling than I am, and I want to be on the front foot’.  I think it’s so great that kids are learning about sustainability in schools, but we didn’t get that, and so where is the opportunity for big kids and adults to learn. We’re just expected to research and learn and find credible sources ourselves, which just makes it difficult and creates another barrier to living more sustainably.  We want to make it more approachable. People are so scared of doing the wrong thing, and so they do nothing at all. We want to make it fun, and, you know, who cares if you get it all wrong? It just means you’ve got quite a bit to learn, but we’re going to help you. IR: You mentioned how the launch of a Banish store was on a longer-term list. Do you think this opens the possibility of more stores sooner rather than later? LD: Yeah, absolutely. We’ve got a lot of demand from our Banish community, people are asking for the same concept, but in all of the other major cities. I’d also really like to do something in remote and rural areas, they’re the ones that really need access to our recycling service more so than inner-city shoppers.