Natasha gave us an update on the Container Deposit Scheme, and the Rotary Greenbatch Alliance.  The slides from her presentation can be found here[IJ1] .

There are four elements to Greenbatch, first introduced to Applecross Rotary during the Rotary Shark Tank presentations in 2018:

There is a fundraising target of $150,000 to get all of this underway, with $60,000 having been raised to date, and another $20,000 budgeted to come from the Container Deposit Scheme, which gets underway on 2 June.

Rotary Clubs are logical partners for Greenbatch as the goals of both align perfectly.

 

And the need to take action is urgent.

 

China and Malaysia banned the import of mixed plastics last year and shortly afterwards the combined governments of Australia (COAG) banned the export of waste plastic after it was added to the Basel Convention as a hazardous material.

 

President-Elect Ray Philp is Applecross Rotary’s Go-To Champion for Greenbatch so we can expect to hear more and be asked to do more.  Our local Federal MP and Honorary Member Ben Morton secured funding for all the schools in our area to be able to participate in collecting waste, and our Club has accepted responsibility for Applecross Senior High School and Ardross, Applecross, Brentwood and Mt Pleasant Primary Schools.

 

This will provide us with additional opportunities to engage these five schools in all our Rotary Youth Service initiatives.