🐕 Best Gippsland dog strolls

🎊 WHAT’S ON THIS WEEK 🎟️

• SAT. 28/03 - THU. 28/05 | Australian Wood and Design Exhibition

• FRI. 01/05 - SAT. 06/06 | Exhibitions at East Gippsland Art Gallery

• SAT. 16/05 - SUN. 24/05 | Fish Creek Tea Cosy Festival

• SATURDAY, 23/05/26 | Choirboys

• SATURDAY, 23/05/26 | Conference of the Birds Art Walk

• SATURDAY, 23/05/26 | Heavy Hitters at Reiverview Hotel

🧺 FARMERS MARKETS 🥧

• SATURDAY, 23/05/26 | Lions Traralgon Farmers Market

• SATURDAY, 23/05/26 | Yarragon Craft and Produce Market

• SATURDAY, 23/05/26 | Paynesville foreshore farmers markets

• SUNDAY, 24/05/26 | Bairnsdale Howitt Park Market

• SUNDAY, 24/05/26 | Kongwak Market

🔍 HEARD THIS WEEK👂

⚡️ A $600 million plan to burn trash for electricity is coming to Latrobe Valley. What is waste-to-energy and are there risks?

A new industry is emerging around the country that promises to prevent the roughly 20 million tonnes of excess waste that is buried in landfill every year.

It’s called waste-to-energy.

And while champions of the burgeoning enterprise say it will stop thousands of tonnes of rubbish from being buried underground, others have said it sidesteps better solutions, like recycling waste into new products – or not creating the waste in the first place.

What happened: In early May, the Victorian government held public hearings into the development of waste-to-energy industries across the state. Local community groups were invited to speak, and over two days residents and organisations from across Victoria gave their two cents on the issue.

One of the facilities discussed is the estimated $600 million Maryvale Energy from Waste project, which will be located at Opal Australian Paper’s Maryvale Mill.

The operation was first announced in October 2020 and Maryvale Energy-from-Waste Project, the company behind the project, claims the facility will be able to process 325,000 tonnes of non-recyclable waste each year.

The Monitor spoke to the Chair of Circular Economy at the University of Melbourne, Professor Damien Giurco, about the pros and cons of waste-to-energy facilities and how they work.

Read the full story here or watch a short video explainer below.

🥧 How did Drouin’s chef Shalem Raj come to make some of Gippsland’s best pies?

Last week, I visited Chef Raj’s Kitchen in Drouin to chat with Shalem Raj who runs the curry and pie shop with his wife Rancy.

Raj talked to me about how he ended up in regional Gippsland after moving to Australia from Bangladesh, how he changed the way he cooks South Indian curries to cater to the Australia palate and what he loves about living in Gippsland.

Watch the full interview with Raj below.

🐕 The ultimate guide to Gippsland’s best dog-friendly walks

Here at the Monitor, we know your dog loves walkies – but it can get a bit dull taking the hound to the same old footy oval every weekend.

So to help out, we’ve compiled a list of pooch-friendly jaunts to keep your furry friend happy and let you see some of Gippsland’s gorgeous bushland in the process.

🦮 On leash only. This list only contains dog on-leash walks, so make sure to keep our native wildlife safe and keep your canines tethered.

If you have any suggestions for strolls, feel free to email us at [email protected] and we’ll make sure to add it to the list.

Check out the full list here.

LOOKING NATIONALLY 👀

How does your social media algorithm guide the content you see and should we know more about it?

Those are questions my colleague Archie Milligan from the National Account dived into this week.

Take a look at what Archie has to say about how social media apps choose to spread information and the the potential harms caused by unregulated algorithms below.