National Recycling Week (13-19 November) is a reminder to all Australians to recycle, reuse and repurpose for a more sustainable future. The latest waste report reveals that while a population rise has resulted in increased waste generation (75.8 million tonnes), Aussies have upped the ante on the recycling front.
With a passion for sustainability and waste reduction, enviro-prenur Tim Miller, founder of Lids4Kids Australia has mobilised an army of every day Australian eco-warriors to reduce single use plastic in their communities via a simple yet effective scheme.
What began in the ACT has now grown to become a national initiative, with Lids4Kids backed by teams of volunteers right across the country. Volunteers rescue single use plastic bottle lids from landfill to be turned in into new, sustainable and recyclable products. At the Lids4Kids facility, every lid is washed, sorted and processed into a raw material, and then used by recyclers and micro factories to produce recycled items such as furniture, pens, plant pots and many other items.
With funding from the IMB Bank Community Foundation, Lids4Kids has established the Lids4Kids Community Recycling Hub and Education Centre (the Hub).
More about Australia’s recycling habits
- More than half (60%) of the nation’s waste is recycled or reused.
- The country’s resource recovery rate, which includes reuse of waste, recycling, and recovery of waste for use in energy generation, is at 63%.
- SA ranks highest state in resource receiver rates at 80%, followed by the ACT (69%), NSW and VIC (67%), WA (64%), TAS (51%), QLD (47%), and NT (19%).
More about Lids4Kids
- Since 2019 Lids4Kids has rescued nearly 110,000,000 lids from landfill from all around Australia – enough to fill two Olympic sized swimming pools – with the majority of the lids brought to the ACT for processing.
- At the IMB Bank Community Foundation funded Lids4Kids Community Recycling Hub and Education Centre (the Hub) volunteers sort sixteen different recyclables by type, including bottle lids by colour and plastic (or polymer) type in preparation for shredding and recycling.
- The Hub also plays host to hands-on education workshops for adults with disability and local school students.
- Workshop participants learn about sorting plastics, recycling, and can also get hands-on experience in turning lids into new, sustainable products.
- The Hub also hosts the ACT’s only plastic recycling micro-factory which accepts, prepares, and processes up to 250,000 lids per week into closed-loop, sustainable products.
IMB Bank Community Foundation has provided funding for 55 grassroots community groups and projects across NSW, ACT and VIC in 2023.
About IMB Bank
Established in 1880, IMB Bank is one of Australia’s most enduring financial institutions, helping people achieve their financial goals for over 140 years. IMB was rated as one of the World’s Best Banks by Forbes in 2020, and was recognised with Canstar’s Most Satisfied Customers – Bank, and Most Satisfied Customers – Customer Owned Bank awards in 2022. IMB Bank offers digital and mobile banking, home loans, personal loans and deposit products, retail and business banking, and has a growing branch network through NSW and Melbourne. With total assets over $7 billion, IMB is regulated by APRA and ASIC, is proudly customer-owned and is one of the leading mutual banks in NSW.
About the IMB Bank Community Foundation
The IMB Bank Community Foundation was established in 1999 to support the communities IMB Bank calls home. Since inception, the Foundation has supported more than 900 community projects with over $12m in donated funding. The Foundation is proud to support projects which strengthen local communities through the transfer of skills and knowledge, encouraging and supporting volunteer input and building lasting community assets.
