By Tyler Wright
Out of their Kallista property, husband and wife duo Kathy Tyler and Lachlan Maclean voluntarily run their recycling initiative, collecting recyclable goods from drop-off points throughout the Dandenong Ranges.
“It’s more of a hobby than a business. We have two aspects of it where we have things that we collect from stores and then we take those things to various recycling centres, so that makes it easier for people, they don’t have to go off the mountain” Kathy said.
Kathy and her husband began the Hills Recycling Reduce Reuse Recycle Directory around six years ago; a resource where locals can find drop off points for their home batteries, mattresses, toothbrushes and other items to reduce waste.
“I did a stall at Kallista Market and I used to sell things [like] reusable bags, and I had a box there for compact fluorescent globes. I also then got batteries because that was really popular, and I went from there,” Kathy said.
“It obviously came that it would be better to have a more permanent site because people would forget the market was only once a month.
“It grew because when I went to the transfer station, I could see how much more could be recycled, so I took on some of those products to be recycled as well.”
Kathy works with local drop-off points including the Kallista General Store and Recycled Roots and Leaves Plant Rescue Nursery in Silvan, who collect mobile phones, CDs, DVDs and computer cables, for Kathy to then transport to the Coldstream Transfer Station or the Monash Transfer Station in Notting Hill.
A battery recycler will then transport the goods to a plant in Gisborne.
“We also [collect] corks and bread tags. The corks are only reused, they go to schools for art and craft,” she said.
“The bread tags…go to a small business in South Australia..and they make breadboards [and bowls] out of them.”
A self-confessed “fiend” for finding recycling hot spots, Kathy alerts the community when retailers offer re-use opportunities; including a recent Facebook post when she shared that sport shoes could be dropped into Rebel Sport stores for the material to be used to create gym mats and kids’ playgrounds.
“There’s people that are keen to do the right thing and you see when they find out about things that they can recycle. I think once people know that they can recycle their shoes, they’re going to do it,” she said,
“What we’re trying to do is make it easier for people to recycle locally. So if they only just have to go up the street rather than have to go all the way to the transfer station… that means they’re more likely to actually do the recycling.”
Priceline Pharmacy stores also collect empty makeup products, which are sent to TerraCycle to be cleaned, sorted and recycled.
“You can take eyeglasses to your local optometrist… that’s a bit of an obscure one that people don’t know,” Kathy said.
“There’s some other really obscure ones…you can donate your piano for reuse or deconstruction and reuse of the materials.”
“Bunnings and Woolworths take batteries. and Bunnings takes power tool batteries, which is a really good thing.”
Officeworks also takes items including used printer cartridges and computers to be re-used, which Kathy said is a “really good service”.
“It’s where you want to see recycling going, is that the store that produces the thing is taking it back and taking some responsibility in the recycling of things.”
To find out more about where you can donate your items, visit https://hillsrecycling.wixsite.com/hillsrecycling?fbclid=IwAR3UhcGthMJrg1UgRhYHuzcEtYzu35ow5J2XGqtgUTyfHO22A_2Ki3R3AIc
