AN INTERNATIONAL charity\u2019s unique model has captured people\u2019s imaginations in the Surf Coast and Geelong.<\/p>\n
Aussie Bread Tags for Wheelchairs sees people collect bread tags and deliver them to local collection points. The tags are then transported to Transmutation in Robe, South Australia, where the bread tags are then made into items such as bowls, coasters, and doorknobs. The proceeds from the sales of these items then go towards the purchase of wheelchairs for people with disabilities in\u00a0South Africa.<\/p>\n
Bread tags are used because they are made of dense plastic that decomposes slowly and are also small enough to pose a threat to wildlife.<\/p>\n
The program began in South Africa, but in 2018 Jenny Cooper founded an Australian branch.<\/p>\n
Ms Cooper said the branch\u2019s rapid growth has been very encouraging.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been really amazing. We\u2019re approaching 500 collection points nationally, I think we\u2019ve got 490 at the moment, and that\u2019s in less than\u00a0two years.\u201d<\/p>\n
These collection points are diverse. There is a collection point in Torquay at Surf Coast Hearing Clinic and three in Geelong: Urban Upcycle, Newcomb Park Primary School, and Bakers Delight in Geelong West.<\/p>\n
Ms Cooper said the area was \u201cpretty active\u201d with its donations.<\/p>\n
Urban Upcycle\u2019s Nicole Urbanski said their collection point has never been lacking donors.<\/p>\n
Even when the business temporarily closed because of coronavirus people continued to collect their tags. Ms Urbanski subsequently organised a drop off day on Saturday (July 25) for people to donate their growing collections.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had a lot of people asking me when they can drop their bread tags off.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know there\u2019s a lot of people that have been collecting ever since we started advertising that we were doing it at the start of last year.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the space of two hours, the drop off day saw 35kg of bread tags donated.<\/p>\n
Ms Cooper said donations like these have seen the charity continue to thrive even amidst the challenges caused by the virus.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople aren\u2019t going out much, so they\u2019re not dropping them off but they\u2019re eating lots of bread at home I think, so probably in the long-term, it won\u2019t affect us.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a bit of a buffer with the recycler, we send them ahead, so we\u2019ve managed to keep up the pace of recycling. We\u2019re doing a 150kg (of bread tags) a month at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Urbanski collected a van load of bread tags on Saturday, but she said she had not anticipated the level of community support the charity\u00a0would get.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just saw something on social media, and I contacted Aussie Bread Tags and said, \u2018Hey, do you want us to be a collection point?\u2019, and they said \u2018Sure thing\u2019. It wasn\u2019t a big deal but to everyone else, it\u2019s become a big deal.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a business, we\u2019re trying to teach people to reduce and reuse and send less waste to landfill.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople just want to be sustainable, so a lot of schools and kinders, they have their own little drop off points, and once they\u2019ve got a nice amount, they bring them to us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Cooper said the engagement of learning centres has helped give the program an educational component.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of schools collect, and a lot of childcare centres collect, so they\u2019re probably our biggest collectors because you have so many families involved.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of teachers use them for counting, sorting into colours, apart from obviously the environmental education of what they\u2019re doing by not having them end up in landfill or the sea.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Cooper said it also crucially teaches people every contribution matters.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a numbers game. Any one family doesn\u2019t use a lot of bread tags really, but when you get a lot of people collecting, they add up.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
AN INTERNATIONAL charity\u2019s unique model has captured people\u2019s imaginations in the Surf Coast and Geelong. Aussie Bread Tags for Wheelchairs sees people collect bread tags and deliver them to local collection points. The tags are then transported to Transmutation in Robe, South Australia, where the bread tags are then made into items such as bowls, […]<\/p>\n