A mother and her young son have found a simple way to save takeaway coffee cups going to landfill while helping to save the dunes.
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Taryn de Luca appreciates the artwork featured on the takeaway coffee cups of her local cafe and didn't want to see them go to waste.
She and her son Owen came up with an idea to give the cups a new life by repurposing them with succulents taken from their garden and their neighbour Joy's garden.
"Krystal has really nice coffee cups at Full Circle and I thought it would be a real waste to just waste them, so we came up with the idea...to turn them into something useful," Ms De Luca said.
"Succulents are pretty easy, they're the only thing I don't kill".
Mum and son created a 'take or donate, just smile' sign and put the succulents on offer out the front of The Full Circle Cafe at South West Rocks.
"We didn't care if people donated or not, just as along as they enjoyed them," Ms de Luca said.
But people did donate.
Where the money collected would go was an easy choice for the mother and son duo.
At four-and-a-half years old Owen Gaddes loves to slide down the dunes at South Smoky beach while his father is fishing.
"We spend a lot of time down at Smoky as a family," Ms de Luca said.
During a visit to their favourite beach the family saw the local community group South West Rocks Dune Care hard at work and Owen was intrigued.
He asked his mum what they were doing and she told him they "look after the dunes".
Later when Ms de Luca asked her son where they should give their money raised with their new creative project he replied "what about the dune people?"
Approximately 50 succulent cups have been taken to new homes, with $139 collected recently given to South West Rocks Community Dune Care.
President of the community volunteer group Ian Burnett says they are "really touched".
"A four-and-a-half year old making a donation to the dunes... raising the money and then giving it away is a lot to do for a little kid," said Mr Burnett.
"All the support we can get from the community is always good but this is sort of a special thing because he's so young. [It's] such a nice thing to do."
Ms de Luca is planning to volunteer with Dune Care with her kids in the near future.
"I'm hoping we might just do it as an activity with both the kids so that they appreciate the surrounding environment and look after it," she said.
Ms de Luca has noticed a "pay-it-forward" mentality from their Smoky's Succulents.
"The community, even though it is a small community, is just really big-hearted I think."
