40-time Golden Guitar winner Troy Cassar-Daley returns as the Official Sustainability Ambassador for the Toyota 53rd Tamworth Country Music Festival. This year he's back with even more tips on how locals and visitors can make environmentally-friendly choices during the 2025 festival.
The countdown is on until Australia's biggest celebration of country music kicks off and Tamworth welcomes tens of thousands of fans and visitors.
Troy Cassar-Daley, stopped in at Tamworth today to engage with the local community and share advice around sustainable practices, including a special visit to Nemingha Public School to educate its students on the importance of looking after their region.
"The atmosphere in Tamworth during the festival is absolutely incredible, and we want to make sure that visitors make sustainable choices throughout their stay, because a clean, green region is one of the many things that makes this festival so special," says Mr Cassar-Daley.
During his visit to Nemingha Public School, Troy was enlightened by the many steps students are taking to care for their own school environment.
"You really get to see the care they have for their school environment, and their enthusiasm towards wanting to build a sustainable future," Mr Cassar-Daley said.
A proud Gumbaynggir/Bundjalung man, Mr Cassar-Daley has been the Tamworth Country Music Festival's sustainability ambassador for over 23 years.
In 2024 Mr Cassar-Daley released a new album Between the Fires, which won Best Country Album at the ARIA Awards in November. He is also a nominee for six 2025 Golden Guitar Awards.
It is his passion for storytelling and strong connection to the land that has led Mr Cassar-Daley to be a driving force in promoting sustainability throughout the festival and encouraging visitors to make conscious efforts to look after the region throughout their visit.
"I try to do good by the environment and it's important for visitors to the region to do the same. The tiniest steps to reduce water and energy consumption can make a huge difference when implemented by the hundreds of thousands of people we have in the area across the festival," says Mr Cassar-Daley.
In the lead up to the festival, Mr Cassar-Daley is also encouraging shoppers to visit local businesses that sell quality and durable clothing and local second-hand stores.
According to Clean-up Australia the average Australian buys 56 items of clothing every year, and dispose around 23 kilograms to landfill. Tamworth is home to more than 10 op shops which sell a wide range of home-goods, furniture and clothing. Shopping second hand reduces waste by supporting a circular economy and it's fun!
It's a message shared by Tamworth local, Alice Milson, who was awarded the 2024 Tamworth Local Legend Award for Sustainability. Today she joined Troy Cassar-Daley to educate students at Nemingha Public School about the impact of fast fashion on the environment.
"I presented ideas to the students about how to reduce their textile waste by thinking of ways to create outfits that utilise resources that are already in circulation." Alice says.
Every day, more than 373,000 tonnes of new clothes are imported to Australia and 200,000 tonnes end up in landfill.
Tamworth Regional Council's Sustainability Officer Angela Dodson says that sustainable fashion will be a major focus for the team throughout the festival, as well as recycling.
"This year Troy is helping spread awareness about the impact of fast fashion on the environment and educating festival-goers on how to be more sustainable when choosing clothing. Country's always been cool in Tamworth and that goes for clothes as well!
"Of course, we also encourage visitors to do simple things like having shorter showers, turning the air conditioner on a timer, or onto the most energy efficient setting of 23 degrees, which can go a long way to improving the region's collective consumption of water and energy.
"We also have free water refill stations scattered around the CBD and encourage everyone to carry their re-usable water bottles," Angela says.
Visitors and locals are encouraged to get involved. By making a purchase at a participating op-shop in January, shoppers can go in the draw to win 1 of 4 double passes to Troy Cassar- Daley's Concert on Thursday 23 January 2025 at 4pm.
Stay up to date with official Toyota Country Music Festival, Tamworth news at www.tcmf.com.au, TCMF Facebook and TCMF Instagram.
