PLASTIC BREAD TAGS
In South Africa a plastics company, Zibo, buys the bread tags for a small amount per kilo. The tags (high impact polystyrene, type 6 plastic) are recycled, being made into seedling trays. The proceeds are used to provide wheelchairs for the needy. At present about 500kg are collected per month in South Africa, funding 2 wheelchairs.
People who were aware of this program had been collecting tags for this cause in Australia for many years and either taking the tags to South Africa when they visited, or posting them. In September 2018, we set up an Aussie arm of Bread Tags for Wheelchairs in order to promote the program, increase collection, look into local recycling and streamline the transport of the tags.
In February 2019, we delivered our first batch of tags to our Australian recycler, Transmutation – Reuse, Reduce, Recycle, who are based in Robe in South Australia. They now take monthly consignments of tags from us, and all bread tags collected in Australia are recycled locally. The funds raised are regularly remitted to South Africa to buy wheelchairs.
While still primarily funding wheelchairs in South Africa, by mid-2021 we had sufficient funds through recycling and donations to spread our focus wider. We now also fund wheelchairs for children in other countries through collaboration with Wheelchairs for Kids in WA. See our Gallery and News pages for details.