The trial of recycling blister packs -The medical blister-pack experimental project was launched in Warrnambool in February 2004.  A $5,000 grant from the Warrnambool City Council Community Development Fund was used to start the project.

 

The following six locations are available for collection: the Archie Graham Community Center; Anchor Point Retirement Village; Soulsby and Struth Pharmacy; Infinity Pharmacy (formerly Artz & Kay); Direct Chemist Outlet (Target); and Direct Chemist Outlet (Northpoint).

Every week, I collect the blister packs. The bags are first kept in on a private property before being shipped. Roughly 120,000 blister packs have been kept out of the trash thus far.

 

The Environment officials of the 4 Local Rotary Clubs meet once or twice a month, depending on demand.

 

For the project to proceed, more cash is now required.  There is one grant application pending: the WCC Community Development Grant 2004/5 (likely to be awarded by early August).  Our applications for a grant from Southwest Community Foundation and Wannon Waters Ripple effect program were unsuccessful. 

 

Grant Rowland from Beyond Bank and I recently met to talk about the project and potential funding. If our pending applications are unsuccessful, we may focus on this region.

 

The environment officers from all four Rotary Clubs understand that the manufacturer is ultimately responsible for the waste collected, but we believe we can provide the community, who have enthusiastically embraced the project, with a temporary solution while we wait for new legislation being implemented in 2026.

 

On Thursday June 27 I participated in a workshop organized by Sustainability Victoria and Ethical Fields.  Entitled Regenerate and Reinvest: How Communities can Own, Lead and Accelerate our Sustainable Future, the workshop went from 10am to 2.30pm.

 

Oh no! big drama! Couldn’t get sliced onions.  Lucky, we had a mandolin, and we could buy peeled onions.  One hour later and lots of elbow grease we had 10Kg of sliced onions and surprisingly no tears.

The weather forecast for the Bunnings barbecue that morning was not promising.  It was pouring rain and very cloudy.  Chris, Harpo, and Janey worked the first shift and set up everything for the grill. In the beginning, it was pretty quiet in the first shift but as the day wore on, even though the weather was still quite bad, by the afternoon, business was thriving.  We were nearly out of bread and sausages by the third and fourth shift, so Glenn and Ann had to go purchase more stock. We were as busy as beavers.  In the worst of the weather, we also delivered straight to customers via their windows.  I'm grateful, Ann.

 

This was one of our better Bunnings barbecues in terms of money, and a great thank you to everyone who helped on the day. Chris and Harpo returned later in the day to assist with the pack up, clean up the barbecues, and transport any excess product back to be frozen.

 

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