Do you want to save the environment, reduce landfill and help create mobility aids?
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While it may sound like the workload of a superhero, Envision Hands encompasses all of these and Warrnambool's Ken Parsons has taken upon himself to start the initiative in the south-west.
Envision Hands up-cycles plastic bottle tops to create mobility aids, disability aids, STEM training tools, and aged care gadgets.
After hearing about the work of the organisation, Mr Parsons jumped on board to help.
"I heard the director Sean Teer on the radio one morning and thought what a good idea," he said.
"I never knew whether lids went in the recycling or in the rubbish and then this project came up and it's such an easy solution."
Mr Teer was thrilled Mr Parsons was eager to get the ball rolling in the south-west and commends him on his donations to date.
"Ken has been the lone hand down in Warrnambool," Mr Teer said.
"The initiative is starting to take off in the south-west with Portland Lions Club jumping on board as a deposit point and Schulz Organic Dairy now delivering all their tops to our main site.
"We encourage everyone to start collecting bottle tops in their own homes and drop them off to Ken."
Something you can do too
Jumping on the recycling bandwagon is something most of us try to do in our day-to-day lives.
From having an assortment of bins to reusing our jars, boxes and bottles - there are a number of practices we have incorporated into our everyday routines to do that extra little bit for the environment.
And here's one more.
Bottle tops from milk and water bottles, soft drinks, long-life milk or anything with Code 2 inscribed on it can be put aside, washed and donated to Mr Parsons at George Taylor's Hardware to be picked up by Envision Hands and re-purposed to help people from the young to the elderly.
"In this day and age recycling really should be everyone's priority," Mr Parsons said.
"And this is such an easy thing to do.
"George Taylor's Hardware is open seven days a week so it's very convenient for people to drop in and donate their bottle tops at anytime, they just need to be washed."
Mr Parson's has already contacted numerous cafes around town who have all been collecting their bottle tops for donations. Having already made a few significant donations, now he is encouraging any other interested businesses to drop in to George Taylor's Hardware to discuss bottle top donations of large amounts.
What is Envision Hands?
Based in Werribee, Envision Hands is an initiative designed to eliminate landfill by transforming bottle tops to an assortment of mobility aids.
Next to plastic bags, plastic bottle tops are one of the top polluters of the oceans and environment. Creating micro-beads which pollute our beaches and many animals swallow, bottle tops are a silent environmental killer.
Having surpassed their aim to have a million bottle tops donated and with a new target of two million well-insight, Envision Hands is determined not to stop their efforts to help not only the environment, but those less fortunate.
Director Sean Teers hopes Envision Hands' work will continue to grow and expand.
"The aim of the program is firstly to reduce waste and secondly to save the environment by getting bottle tops out of landfill," Mr Teers said.
"Our team began to wonder what would we do with all the bottle tops.
"After a while we came up with the idea similar to another organisation who had established designs of creating mobility aids through 3D printing.
"We thought we could use the bottle tops to make these aids and now there's been over 2000 hands and arms created."
After colour sorting the donated bottle tops, placing them into a plastic shredding machine and feeding them through an extruder to produce an ink-like filament, Envision Hands is able to breakdown the tops, program the design into a computer and 3D print the mobility aids which are used by people locally and internationally.
Another key component of the Envision Hands network is their engagement with Government bodies, long-term unemployed people, volunteers and community organisations to be cost effective and put people into work.
After being overwhelmed with the amount of bottle tops received the organisation now relies on crowdfunding help with the processing costs through their Go Fund Me page which can be found by clicking here.
The main objective of Envision Hands is clear and the organisation is determined to continue evolving to ensure they meet their aim.
"We have plenty of ideas about how we can expand what we produce," Mr Teers said.
"But the bottom line is we've made the commitment that once we've take the bottle top out of landfill it won't go back there."
If you have some bottle tops lying around your home or want to start your own collection, Mr Parsons is more than happy to receive your donations during trading hours at Warrnambool's George Taylor's Hardware on Lava Street.
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