By Jonty Ralphsmith
A Dandenong-based manufacturer is bucking the negative reputation associated with plastic through its commitment to repurposing and recycling.
Garden City Plastics is showing that plastic polypropylene (PP5) can be repurposed continually after its first use so it does not contribute to litter.
In an initiative started about 18 months ago, domestic and commercial consumers can drop their plastic into one of the company’s 47 bin locations around Australia.
The company also has 500 bins in commercial nurseries and farms.
There are 13 retail bins in Victoria including at Berwick Potteries, Officer and Braeside Garden World, and seven wholesale bins including at Dingley Din San.
Before being dropped off, people are asked to tap, check, stack: tap out excess soil, check it is a PP5 container and stack the containers as densely as possible.
“When the bin is full, we get an email from the nursery and within 2-3 weeks it will be made back into a product here,” sales and marketing manager Greg Carrick explained.
Whether that’s a plastic flower pot, carry tray or anything we make that’s black which is predominantly PP5.
Products are sent to polymer processes as part of the recycling process and then sold back to Garden City Plastics who will repurpose it.
Mr Carrick also highlighted the cost-effectiveness of the strategy: “a grower who grows in a black container is paying 30% less for their pot than what they would if they put it in a new coloured pot because the material is more expensive for new pots.”
Seventy per cent of pots and carry trays Garden City Plastics make come from recycled black material.
After repurposing four tonnes of material it provided to the public in May 2021, it has lifted to 46 tonnes in February and Sales and Marketing Manager Greg Carrick said the business is striving for even better.
“We’d love to think by the end of 2022 we can collect 100 tonne a month and grow it from there. 100 tonne very achievable and we work every day recycling – it is probably a third of my job now.
“We’re doing plenty at the moment but we know the market’s a lot broader than what we’re collecting currently so we hope to fill some part of that.”
