Plastic Collective working with Coca Cola & Earthwatch to tackle marine pollution

The Plastic Collective is proud to be working with CLCAC Land & Environment Rangers from the isolated northern communities of Burketown and Normanton in the Gulf of Carpentaria to help develop a marine pollution management plan and a report card to conserve this region’s precious habitat. 

The Plastic Collective will provide capacity-building training with resource recovery equipment, the Shruder Recycling Stations, where the communities will be able to transform plastic waste into practical resources such as building materials and other valuable products, as part of the first stage of establishing micro-enterprises using a circular economy model.

It is all part of the ‘Wetlands Not Wastelands” project jointly funded by the Coca-Cola Australia Foundation (CCAF) and Earthwatch Australia, the first of its kind addressing marine pollution and wetland management in the Lower Gulf of Carpentaria. 

The $600,000 project working with the Carpentaria Land Council Aboriginal Corporation (CLCAC) will train 20 CLCAC Land & Environment Rangers to help deliver the ‘Wetlands not Wastelands’ program over the next three years. 

The CEO of the Plastic Collective, Louise Hardman, said the collective was very grateful to be working with the dedicated Aboriginal Rangers from the Southern Gulf region and Earthwatch, who have been working together caring for country in these remote and beautiful regions. 

“The lack of waste infrastructure in places such as Queensland’s Southern Gulf makes plastic pollution a serious problem for these small communities, and we are excited to be able to deliver a practical solution to them,” Louise said.

The Plastic Collective system is a containerised off-grid unit which includes hardware equipment for recycling plastics, software applications for monitoring, provenance and compliance, as well as an ethical marketplace for a complete circular economy.  Enabling this system is a practical training program to empower the Aboriginal Rangers to improve their environment and create an economical model. 

“We want to thank the generous support from Coca-cola Australia Foundation, as we are looking forward to delivering this pioneering program in resource recovery alongside Earthwatch and CLCAC Land and Environment Rangers,” Louise said.