The Good News Movement

Top Menu

Main Menu

  • Home
  • Good News
  • Be Inspired
  • Submit Your Good News
  • About Us

The Good News Movement

The Good News Movement

  • Home
  • Good News
  • Be Inspired
  • Submit Your Good News
  • About Us
Good News
Home›Good News›Fixing WA’s Plastic Waste Problem with Surprising Community Support

Fixing WA’s Plastic Waste Problem with Surprising Community Support

By thegoodnewsmovementadmin
November 9, 2018
0

Strong community support from a surprising source has ensured the success of Western Australia’s first plastic reprocessing facility.

Darren Lomman started GreenBatch two years ago after being shocked at discovering WA’s lack of plastic reprocessing, and says he had to get creative with his fundraising approach.

Mr Lomman, 35, said despite enormous public support, receiving financial assistance from the government was extremely difficult, and the majority of funds raised came from crowd funding, private donors and help from a seemingly unusual source – Rotary clubs.

“Rotary can be a powerful tool for young people to get social projects off the ground,” said Mr Lomman.

“The stereotype surrounding Rotary is changing, with it no longer being considered only an organisation for socially and financially elite older men,” he said.

“The Rotary network is huge, it’s powerful. If Rotary comes together and actually backs a project it can make it happen,” he said.

Mr Lomman said he’d originally planned to have a small laboratory which made a few hundred rolls of 3D printer filament from recycled bottles a week.

But the project has had so much public support, it now has a plant which will reprocess 300 kilograms of plastic an hour and staff are looking at the possibility of reprocessing all of WA’s PET plastic.

Mr Lomman received Rotary grants and volunteer help with his first charity – the Dreamfit Foundation – which engineered equipment for people with disabilities and earnt him Young Australian of the Year in 2007.

He has now joined the Rotary Club of Perth and wants to harness its power to get clubs across the State to raise at least $150,000 to go towards equipment.

“Rotary is just one massive huge family. Every company in Perth probably has someone in it that’s a Rotarian or has a connection that is a Rotarian,” said Mr Lomman.

“When you think of End of Polio, Rotary got behind that project and they’ve now pretty much eradicated polio. Rotary can do huge things,” he said.

He is not the first young person to work with Rotary as a force for civic good. The Rotary Club of Crawley alone has had all four Young West Australians of the year from 2011-2014 as youth scholars at the club.

Mr Lomman said the best way for individuals to help our plastic crisis was to first reduce individual waste production, followed by spreading awareness.

“Most people don’t even know that our plastic is not being reprocessed,” he said.

Mr Lomman said that people liking, sharing and commenting on posts on the GreenBatch Facebook page was a powerful way for him to show ministers and the Premier that the public want plastic reprocessing in WA.

“There’s now thousands of people rallying behind GreenBatch, and that’s very powerful when dealing with government or our partners,” Mr Lommann said.

“It’s not me, it’s the masses of people that are echoing what I’m saying, and that doesn’t cost anything,” he said.

For more information or to donate to GreenBatch click here

To find out more about Rotary clubs in Australia click here


by Yvonne Ardley

Previous Article

How Community Gardens Can Bring Back the ...

Next Article

How to Increase Your Chances of Getting ...

Related articles More from author

  • Good News

    Collaboration, Community and Purpose are Keys to Running a Great Franchise

    December 4, 2018
    By thegoodnewsmovementadmin
  • Good News

    How to get Meghan Markel’s Perfect Eyebrow – Aussie Eyebrow Gurus Tell You How

    August 13, 2018
    By thegoodnewsmovementadmin
  • Good News

    Fresh Food on Mars?

    May 16, 2018
    By thegoodnewsmovementadmin
  • Good News

    How a Brisbane Woman Has Shaken up the Construction Industry

    October 12, 2018
    By thegoodnewsmovementadmin
  • Good News

    How Gardens Can Help Children Develop their Senses

    October 12, 2018
    By thegoodnewsmovementadmin
  • Good News

    How to tell if you are suffering from Working Mother’s Syndrome

    August 24, 2018
    By thegoodnewsmovementadmin

Leave a reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

  • People

    Birthday Parade For Veteran During Coronavirus Pandemic

  • Good News

    How Becoming a Mum Saved My Business

  • Good News

    Ex-Army Dog ‘Mia’ is a Digger of a Different Sort

Follow us

Join us

logo

We need to be informed and the world needs to be kept accountable.

But in an era of digital disruption and falling news audiences, the media must take a different view on what news is, and how stories are constructed.

Negative emotions have served us well during an age of flight or fight. But it’s the positive emotions that drive society forward – and that is the era we are currently stepping into.

Media has the power to move society and send a positive ripple out into the world.

  • Recent

  • Popular

  • Comments

  • The Op Shoppers Ball: Look Hip, Hot and Fashionable Without Spending Up Big

    By thegoodnewsmovementadmin
    April 1, 2021
  • What Your Star Sign Has in Store for You in 2021: A Sigh of Relief ...

    By thegoodnewsmovementadmin
    January 20, 2021
  • Festival celebrates and supports frontline workers

    By thegoodnewsmovementadmin
    October 27, 2020
  • Employer Says Her Best Workers Are Aged 60 to 80

    By thegoodnewsmovementadmin
    August 25, 2020
  • The Op Shoppers Ball: Look Hip, Hot and Fashionable Without Spending Up Big

    By thegoodnewsmovementadmin
    April 1, 2021
  • A Woman’s Magical First Breath During Lung Transplant

    By thegoodnewsmovementadmin
    May 16, 2018
  • Aussie Surfers Slash Ocean Pollution With ‘Seabin’

    By thegoodnewsmovementadmin
    May 16, 2018
  • Break through for coeliac disease

    By thegoodnewsmovementadmin
    May 16, 2018

Follow us

  • Home
  • Join the Movement
  • About Us