Aiding others’ mobility by saving household rubbish

WHEN you finish off a loaf of bread or some rolls, what do you do with the flat, square tag that ties up the bag?

Maybe it goes into landfill, or into your own recycling bin, but there’s another place each piece of plastic can be sent to, and make a meaningful impact.

Organisation, Aussie Bread Tags for Wheelchairs asks communities to save and donate bread tags. They’re sold to sustainable Australian manufacturer, Transmutation and funds raised pay for mobility aides for people with disabilities in South Africa.

Dance fitness instructor, Erin Harris, and about 20 of her Zumba Ballarat regulars, have embraced the initiative in the last 12 months, after one participant shared her involvement.

“She’s a teacher, and her school’s students were collecting them. I put it out to my Zumba people and the response was awesome,” Mrs Harris said.

“Everyone’s got bread tags, so we got heaps and heaps. Everyone kept bringing them in, and although the school’s promotion finished, I decided to keep going with it.

“In the first lot, we had roughly 3000, the second lot was about 2000 and there would be about 5000 or 6000 in the tags I’ve got to count at the moment.”

Most bread tags in the recent haul have come from local food outlets, Dr Fill and Griffin Burger.

“Sam Griffin runs hip hop classes at Eastwood Leisure Complex before my Zumba classes. He saw this on my Facebook page and decided to collect them.

“Because they sell burgers, they go through a lot of packets of rolls. Otherwise, the tags would have ended up in the bin. It’s great that other businesses can get on board and help out,” she said.

Mrs Harris hands tags she collects over to a local Aussie Bread Tags for Wheelchairs representative in Ballarat North and said the campaign is a very simple way people can make a difference to others lives.

“Mostly everyone eats bread and has bread tags, so rather than throwing them in the bin it makes sense to collect them and help out disadvantaged people.”

Visit facebook.com/aussiebreadtags for more information about the cause and how to make a donation.