Hume candidate first to use recyclable & biodegradable election signage

Independent candidate for Hume, Huw Kingston, believes politicians should put their money where their mouths are. And to show he, for one, is serious about the environment he is doing away with the usual plastic advertising signs and using recyclable waterproof cardboard instead.

‘I tracked down this board made in Sweden, called Oppboga,’ Mr Kingston said. The waterproof outdoor board is named after the Swedish town where it is manufactured. It is made from paper and a biodegradable waterproofing agent. Mr Kingston has spent two decades campaigning against single-use plastics and his conscience would not allow him to put his face up on a plastic board.

‘The Oppbogas will last as long as the Federal election campaign, then they can go straight into the recycling bin.’





Every election hundreds of thousands of plastic ‘corflutes’ go up in suburbs, towns and along country roads throughout the nation. The product manager for Starleaton, who import the Oppboga boards in Australia, John Buitenkamp, said he had tried to interest the major political parties in the product but so far none had taken it up. The boards are more expensive than the plastic corflute equivalents. The material is used extensively for signage in the UK and has been available in Australia for two years.

Mr Kingston has ordered over 400 of the boards and hopes his example will be followed by other aspiring MPs in elections to come. He is campaigning on the slogan ‘There’s a climate for change’ and this is one change he would like to see, regardless of who wins the election. Additionally the Huw4Hume campaign team wear organic, sweatshop free T shirts and the vast majority of printing is done on FSC certified recycled paper.

‘People now take environmental concerns very seriously, and so should our politicians,’ said Mr Kingston, who is running against the incumbent Liberal, Angus Taylor.