Transcript
LOUISE HARDMAN - I know first-hand what it can do digestive systems and can kill them, so I decided to start looking for solutions and I thought if we can give value to plastics then it will no longer be discarded and it will no longer sum pollution, so I started looking at how can we value it and then quickly found out that 80% of our plastics can be remoulded and reused, which is pretty much all our single use plastic can be reshaped into something new, so my idea is that we have to stop it at this source. If we stop it at its source before it gets into the environment then you still got good quality plastics that can be reused for something and gives values to the communities, so they can sort of generate income and generate funds and keep their communities clean.
SELA JANE HOPGOOD - Just speaking on communities I saw that you were at the Pacific mini games that was held in Vanuatu just last year, so could you talk about what you found when you took your product there...
LH - Yeah it was a fantastic experience sponsored by Azure Pure Water to go over there and demonstrate for two weeks in a tent, but I found that the local people were really interested. As soon as they saw it, they knew exactly the potential of it and they were quite interested. A lot of people were interested in grass cutting cord, were looking at different ways of making baskets and mats. You know there was a number of other applications as well looking at the end products that can be made from simply from the shred, which can be made into concrete aggregate building blocks, houses, polypropylene tanks, quite a few different things. It's really just up to the imagination of people.
SJH - I thought it was quite timely too that you had gone just before they had announced that they were going to ban plastic bags and polystyrene takeaway boxes, so what's your plan now that you see that Vanuatu is quite serious in terms of their environment?
LH - We're sort of in talks with Azure Pure Water and World Vision at the moment to see if we can get some machines into some programmes over there, so yeah we're sort of looking at being able to possibly work with them and any other opportunities that sort of arise in the region. We're working in different islands elsewhere as well.
SJH - Because of how portable this machine is, it'll be great for the remote islands especially that don't have any waste management...
LH - Oh yeah that's exactly what they're designed for, so the machines are designed to sort of service 2,000 to 3,000 people with their daily plastic usage, but part of the programme is empowering them with knowledge, but teaching them how to reduce their single use plastic and things that can be reduce can be quite easily implemented in their lives and then what's left is going through these machines, so it's sort of like a whole community waste management programme particularly with plastics. Yeah the idea is the machines were made specifically for remote island communities.
