Plastic has become the latest boogieman for those on the Green left. That’s why many of them are calling for outright bans on its use to solve what they term as a global “crisis.”
But little attention is paid to other, more positive solutions popping up – especially on the local level – to help manage plastic waste without requiring the big hand of government.
A case in point is now underway in Canberra, Australia. There a man named Tim Miller has energized not only his family, but also a whole community to undertake the collection of plastic lids to turn them into brightly colored limbs for child amputees.
As reported in Planet Ark:
“The Miller family launched the “Lids 4 Kids” project, partnering with local hospitality businesses to collect the lids from their own operations as well as acting as a collection point for residents in the area. These lids are then transported to Envision Hands’ (the recycling operation they partner with] warehouse in Melbourne for further processing.
At the Envision facility, the lids are cleaned and sorted into colors before being shredded and fed through an extruder. This creates a filament that can be used in 3D printing to produce the brightly colored prosthetics, which are then sent to children in need across a number of developing countries. The Miller family is now aiming to collect a quarter of a million bottle caps in the ACT region to help Envision continue their work.”
Of course, efforts like this are likely to only put a small dent in the much larger need to clean up the problem of plastic waste around the world. However, they do represent a step in the right direction. Let’s hope more such creative ideas that rely on volunteerism, education, new plastic technologies, and a “closed loop” waste management system will be developed that will even further help communities address this challenge.
In the meantime: Kudos to the Miller family.
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