More than 500,000 plastic bottle lids have been diverted from landfill through a City of Mount Gambier recycling program, marking a significant environmental milestone and highlighting the impact of local partnerships in reducing waste.
Introduced in February 2021, the program provides residents with a convenient way to recycle plastic bottle lids, an item that cannot be processed through kerbside recycling bins. Collection points were established at the Civic Centre and selected local supermarkets to make participation easy and accessible.
City of Mount Gambier partnered with the Mount Gambier Lakes Rotary Club to collect and transport the lids to Tenison Woods College, where students recycle the material into new products including park benches, table tops, jewellery and more.
The program has now recycled more than 1.2 tonnes of plastic lids, the equivalent of more than 500,000 lids collected from across the community.
“What started as a small recycling initiative has grown into a program that has prevented more than half a million plastic lids from ending up in landfill. Every lid collected through this program is kept out of landfill and given a second life through local innovation,” Environmental Sustainability Business Partner Aaron Izzard said.
“To put that achievement into perspective, if all 500,000 lids were placed side-by-side, they would stretch for almost 15 kilometres. That’s enough to run from the Blue Lake, through the heart of Mount Gambier and beyond Mount Gambier Airport, highlighting the extraordinary scale of the community’s effort,” Mr Izzard said.
Mr Izzard said the collaboration demonstrates how small individual actions can collectively deliver meaningful environmental outcomes.
The achievement has been made possible through the ongoing support of residents, Rotary volunteers and students who have each played a role in keeping valuable material out of landfill.
“This achievement belongs to the thousands of people who have taken the time to save their lids and place them in the collection bins over the years. Our Rotary volunteers are proud to play a small part by collecting and transporting the material, but it is the community’s commitment that has made recycling more than 500,000 plastic lids possible,” Mount Gambier Lakes Rotary Club representative Darren Archibald said.
At Tenison Woods College, the recovered material provides students with hands on experience in sustainability, recycling and circular economy principles.
“This initiative gives students the opportunity to see sustainability and circular economy principles in action. Rather than viewing plastic as waste, they’re learning how materials can be collected, processed and remanufactured into new products. It’s exciting to see the volume of material that has been recovered through this program, and we’re proud that our students can play a role in developing practical recycling solutions for our region,” Recology Program Coordinator Lyndon Johnston said.
