Sustainability

Consignment, vintage, flea, thrift–Melbourne’s packed with all the secondhand stores you could ever dream of.

Sustainable living starts with small, impactful changes, so who better to inspire us than our fave eco-friendly cafes leading the charge? 

If you're a hungry herbivore, look no further than our guide to Melbourne's best spots for vegan eats, from burgs to fine dining, it's all here.

Make conscious and considered choices when deciding what to buy and give.

Looking for the coolest cafes across Melbourne to fill up at? We’ve sussed the ultimate hit list for you below—happy sipping. 

It’s 2023 and we are embracing the slower life. Heading to the market is a wholesome venture with hand-made crafts, quality local produce and communal vibes.

To all of you who kind of want to be more sustainable but kind of think it sounds too tricky, we hear you. We’ll admit that it can be tough to navigate what’s good and what’s bad in this crazy world of greenwashing and information overload, but it’s really not so hard to be the eco-warrior you always wanted to be.

Set yourself a pledge to give back. Volunteering your time and effort is a rewarding, warm-fuzzy experience. The positives are endless: you’ll experience a sense of purpose, learn new skills, and connect with cool new peeps.

To put it simply, the theory behind the CE is about transforming our current linear consumption model (Take-Make-Waste) into a circular one that keeps products and services in use for longer (well, forever) to reduce environmental impact and protect precious natural resources. 

This year International Women’s Day is ready to break the bias once and for all, and Melbourne’s lineup of events is definitely ready to shatter the gender mould. With the city’s female talent front and centre, there are plenty of events spotlighting and celebrating women across Melbourne and Victoria.

Born in 2019, Australian-based sneaker brand BLAC needs to be on your radar if you’re looking to take positive, planet-saving steps when it comes to style.

This year pride is returning to the skies with Virgin Australia’s colourful, glittery, and just bloody fabulous ‘Pride Flight’; a celebration of the LGBTIQA+ community of grand proportions 40,000 feet in the sky. 

What was once a conventional run-of-the-mill car park, Siddeley Street Car Park is poised to have one serious glow-up. Opening in the second half of 2022, the CBD rooftop car park is to be transformed into a sky-high sustainable garden oasis and farm.

On a journey to live a greener life? Technology is proving itself as the key to protecting Mother Earth. Innovative products are making sustainable living more viable and, ultimately, making the world a better place.

One of the big trends in Melbourne of late is the want to utilise the Yarra more than we have in the past.

When it comes to the beauty industry, sustainable and eco-conscious aren’t often the first words that come to mind, which is why we’re just a little bit obsessed with Anna Ross, the boss babe behind vegan and cruelty-free beauty brand Kester Black.

The winners of The Circle Awards AUS & NZ 2021 have officially been announced, and our carts (and hearts) are full of sustainable swaps we never knew we needed.

Here at Urban List, we're passionate about putting our best foot forward, dedicated to being as conscious as possible when it comes to sustainability.

City Of Melbourne and Lord Mayor Sally Cap has just announced their plans to extend some leafy love to the north end of Southbank with plans to develop a full riverside garden and cultural precinct as part of the Greenline project.

Say hello to WAM! (Wild Adventures Melbourne), the newest arrival on Melbourne’s eco-tourism scene.

There have been some trends floating around during isolation—baking sourdough, banana bread, taking up pottery, along with planting vegetables and trying to grow something remotely edible.

Created using Cottonised Hemp instead of regular cotton, Levi’s new High Loose and Stay Loose jeans are a revelation for our times. If you’re not yet clued into Cottonised Hemp, this water-saving, energy-saving, low-chemical innovation has been specially designed for Levi’s. 

Back in 2018 a Deakin University study identified Aboriginal names for Melbourne's initial suburbs such as Fitzroy, St Kilda, and Brunswick among others.

Got your keep cup and a reusable water bottle? Level up with these plastic-free products from Go For Zero. 

The residents of the towers across Flemington, Kensington, and North Melbourne had little time to react, and would have to stay within their apartments for five days as part of the 'hard lockdown'.

Following the NGV announcing its reopening in late June, Melbourne’s culture vultures can splendour in the news that the Ian Potter Centre will host Destiny Deacon’s first solo show in over 15 years.

Turning on the TV, or hitting up social media lately has been risky if you want a bit of good news to sink into your brain. Thankfully, we've got some right here.

When the Land Rover Defender arrived in Australia for the first time in 1948, nobody expected the cultural effect it would have on the country.

Let us introduce Urban List Sustainability, a commitment we are launching in partnership with Bank Australia to take our platform and our incredible community to the next level as we commit to having an even more positive impact on the planet and its people.

From vegan leather accessories to delicious crepes for homelessness, we round up the best of this year's ING Dreamstarters. 

In your younger years, you no doubt stared at the “10c in SA only” print on the side of your favourite soft drink can. Hoping that one day you could cash in your sugar addiction.

Did you know there’s now a chatbot that improves your sexting skills? How about a holographic Japanese AI that makes you feel less lonely? Or a cheap male fertility test that turns your iPhone into a sperm microscope?

Emergence Magazine and TERRAIN Projects are presenting a multi-sensory exhibition as part of the National Sustainable Living Festival called Trees. It’s been designed to remind us of our relationship with the living world, and more specifically, with trees. 

These six standout brands with innovative packaging ideas are here to help save the planet. 

Getting the Gig Live: Champions Of Change has been curated to inspire you to take your side hustle to the next level, and more specifically, how to create a more sustainable Australia while doing so.

This year and for the first time ever, Urban List is bringing Getting the Gig to life in Melbourne—a panel series and a networking night complete with free-flowing natural wine, goodie bags and good vibes.

Recycling around Melbourne has been found to be pretty ordinary since recycling exports to China stopped in 2018.

Hyped up as the 'world’s most sustainable shopping centre', Burwood Brickworks (in Burwood) is expected to open late 2019, and if the rendered images are anything to go by it's going to be a feast for the eyes. If fulfilled, the master plan aims to develop 700 new homes, shops and entertainment; Woolworths, Dan Murphy’s, a Readings Cinema—everything you need under one very green roof.

A green getaway is more than just a fun alliteration—it’s the way we should all start thinking about how we travel. 

Learn how to be the most environmentally friendly citizen of Earth you can be at the Zero-Waste Festival this month.

The City of Melbourne has backed a campaign from the Municipal Association of Victoria calling for the introduction of a state-wide Container Deposit Scheme, aka a cashback plan for collecting bottles and cans. And to that we say: it was about time.

Allergies and food intolerance suck. And with more than 4 million Australians living with allergic disease, it was about time we had an event catering to allergies and food intolerances. Enter the Free From Show and the Allergy Show.

Earlier this year a massive project was announced on the banks of the Yarra. It sounded like something from the future, a farm occupying the roof of a tower in Melbourne’s CBD, one that will take up around 2000-square metres of space, and is expected to produce five tonnes of producer per year.

If you’re keen to beautify a little, but don’t want to hurt the environment, we’ve got you covered.

Let’s chat about breaking a dirty, little habit. No, we don’t mean your daily 3pm chocolate binge, we’re talking about using and abusing plastic for just about everything. The time has come to give it all up. 

You’d be hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t adore sartorial sister act Jess and Stef Dadon. From their perfectly curated Instagram account How Two Live (with 99k followers and counting), to their brand-new podcast and amazing vegan shoe range TWOOBS, the siblings are the definition of boss babes.

If you’ve ever been to that Sky Park in the CBD and thought “Hm, I like this, but I wish we had a farm-sized version,” well then all your very specific dreams are about to come true.

Described as “earth, people and animal-friendly”, each one of Wolfgang Scout's plush jumpers is hand knitted by Indian artisans, made using Australian yarn and hand-dyed with natural and organic dyes. 

As far as dream jobs go, they don’t get much greater than owning your own record label. Top that off with the fact that you’re only 23 years old and you’ve got Perth music mogul in the making, Vincent Tolefe. Transforming his love of beats into Your Angle Records, Tolefe is solid proof that hard work, patience and passion are all the ingredients you need for the kind of day job most could only image.  

Tkay Maidza is the ambitious Australian rapper taking up space on everyone’s playlist right now. We caught up with her during recording sessions in Melbourne to dive into her wardrobe and talk creative inspirations, self-discovery, fashion as expression and never (ever) blending in.

Magnum has announced that vegans can have a piece of the goodness.

In the past five years, homelessness in Australia has increased by 14 per cent. Broken down, that’s 50 homeless people per 10,000 people. If you live in the city, there’s a large chance you encounter homelessness every day. But how often do you actually stop, sit down, and have a conversation with these people?

Given sustainability has been one of the hottest topics of 2019, it seems only fitting to consider creating a sustainable Christmas table for the upcoming festive season. We’re talking farm-fresh local produce, natural organic wines, and focusing on quality over quantity.

You never realise how hard it is to buy for a vegan until you’re stuck doing it. Make things easy on yourself and treat your vegan friend to one of these treats.

To propel positive change this holiday season, we’ve rounded up seven of our favourite ING Dreamstarter startups, each with standout causes to get behind and sustainable products worth giving.

Seriously though, how much time do you have because we’ve been lusting over everything all damn day.

Down in this beautiful pocket of the world we’re blessed with some of the most incredible beaches and marine life, but it’s on us all do our bit to ensure the next gen can enjoy and appreciate that big, beautiful blue and its inhabitants.

People are becoming more aware of the impact consuming animal products has on our bodies and our planet and are gradually reducing their intake. With so many ways of doing this, you can hardly blame us for feeling a little lost when it comes to understanding what all these diets actually mean. We set out to discover what the differences between veganism and plant-based eating really are, and this is what we found.

Imagine if vegan beauty was more than a hashtag? Could the cute bunny on the packaging really make a difference? Here at The Urban List, we like to think so and because we are a socially responsible bunch who likes to support Australian companies, we have sourced the absolute best so you can treat yourself guilt-free. No need to thank us, we're here to share the love!