Plan B with Carli: Circular Economy
In today’s third episode of ‘Plan B’ Carli Somer Willis yarned with Lesley Van Stavern on about her recently launched local recycling initiative and business ReGen Plastics.
With 12 years experience in plastics as co-owner in FNQ Plastics in Cairns, combined with her business and life partner Col’s 30 years of professional experience in plastics, they have launched ReGEN Plastics in a huge effort to boost circular economy in Far North Queensland.
Some of the points discussed;
• ‘Circular Economy’ – a concept where by we use more high-quality products (eg plastics), which means we are able to repair them, recycle or reuse them, thus being able to reduce our overall use> Lesley explains how we can do this with plastics
• Plastic as a material – plastic types are varying and better quality plastics are recyclable. The numbers we see on plastic indicate the composition of the plastic – type ‘2’ and above being high quality and recyclable and type ‘2’ being the plastic ReGEN is working with
• ReGEN Plastics extrusion tool cost $360,000, with ReGEN Plastics and Australian Government matching dollar for dollar with each other to purchase it (they each paid half of the cost each). What a HUGE effort by a local Cairns business and Australian Government
• The extrusion tool is the biggest of its kind north of Brisbane
• ReGEN Plastics extrusion tool took several months to make, and the company sourced the tool from Australian business Telford Smith and mould from an Australian mould manufacturer
Lesley is extremely passionate about driving positive environmental change in our community through education, and also founded the Committee for Waste Reduction in 2017, a not-for-profit organisation here in Cairns.
Currently the Committee has 80 members, comprising of business and community leaders from across Cairns. Members knowledge-share and drive change in their businesses and in the community through education and workshops.
Please do not hesitate to reach out to the group via social media or info@cfwr.org.au . Membership is only $25 per year and there is so much value in this, however Lesley advised it is possible to join a meeting to meet the group prior to joining! So if you’re um-ing and ah-ing about joining, they’d love to meet you so you can see why this is so great.
https://www.facebook.com/CommitteeForWasteReduction/
On October 10, they have an event ‘Actions Speak Louder Than Words’ workshop, featuring a local five-star hotel who will share how they have reduced their waste by a third and reduced costs.
And also the event;
https://www.facebook.com/events/437254963669851/
If you missed it, listen to the episode here;
http://www.bbm987.com.au/series/interviews/
