A Bay of Plenty group that runs activities to promote environmental sustainability buy-in from the community is fundraising for a new heat press to continue their recycling movement.
Envirohub Bay of Plenty, based in Tauranga City’s Glasgow St, needs to buy a new heat press for its Precious Plastic project, which has run for five years, after its former machine broke down.
Envirohub's Precious Plastic project group are fundraising for a new heat press to continue their recycling efforts. Photo / Brydie Thompson
The machine was used to provide a small-scale solution for No 2 and No 5 plastic lids that cannot be recycled through the kerbside recycling system. The press melted the recycled lids into flat sheets of plastic, which volunteers use to create a variety of new commercial and business products – such as clocks, earrings and fridge magnets.
The Precious Plastic project aimed to empower individuals and communities to tackle plastic waste and show people that plastic is “a precious resource”, said Envirohub BOP community co-ordinator Cathy Donnelly.
The Wholly Shrink and some other items made by the Precious Project from recycled plastic. Photo / Brydie Thompson
“We are currently at a crossroads with our project until we have the new machine to create more sheets of plastic,” said Donnelly. “However, we are still producing plastic shred with the help of our volunteers and have sold some.”
To fund the new machine, Envirohub is selling another recycling-made-easy item called Wholly Shrinks.
“The Wholly Shrink is a neat compact storage system that compresses the bags and can be left on the kitchen bench as a reminder for all those soft plastic items you encounter in the kitchen with food prep,” said Donnelly.
Envirohub's Precious Project also creates plastic shred, which is used to make a variety of commercial and business products. Photo / Brydie Thompson
“Those of us passionate about recycling are collecting soft plastics and taking them to the bins at supermarkets each week,” said Donnelly, who believed “waste is not waste until we waste it”.
Donnelly said while Envirohub BOP is mindful of shopping for products sold in soft plastics and preferred to avoid or reduce consumption of them – “for those that can’t be avoided it felt like this was a product that would be useful and this fits in with the recycling kaupapa we have at Envirohub”.
For each Wholly Shrink sold, $10 will go towards the heat press machine. Wholly Shrinks retail for $40 online with a $15 shipping fee, or purchase direct from Envirohub to save on shipping costs.
Donnelly said the new heat press machine would cost $18,000: “We’ve raised $8500 to date and will keep fundraising and applying for grants until we hit our target.”
To find out more, visit: https://envirohub.org.nz