I was very pleased to induct Alan and Di Costello on Tuesday night. I could be wrong but I think that this is the first time that we have had a husband and wife team as members of Mount Eliza Rotary. This will get the elderly thinking. I am sure they have settled in very well and look forward to them making a great contribution to the Club.
I reported to the meeting that our new BBQ trailer is finished except for its artwork. Rowan is very happy with the finished unit that includes both fridges and a microwave. It’s a very compact unit for us to use at the Farmers Market and elsewhere. This has been an expensive exercise but Rowan assures me that it will outlast all of us.
I am looking forward to the Golf Day on Friday. I hope that the weather holds as we have a full complement of players. Funds raised will be shared by Interplast and Code 9. Thanks to David and Grace Rew and their committee for the great work once again. I have had a great deal of support from the Club on sweet treats for the golf day attendees. Rhonda V, Clare P, Jan B, Leslie E, Suzie A and yours truly are a great team in the kitchen.
The Board has decided to support a National Youth Science Forum (NYSF) alumni Sophie Nolan. Sophie was one of the people selected for NYSF in 2019 but her intake was cancelled due to bushfires in Canberra. Sophie asked us for support so she could attend a NYSF event in Canberra. The event in part celebrates 40 years of the NYSF program. Rotary was a founding partner in the establishment of NYSF so it’s a great story.
From humble beginnings in Ballarat, to over thirty years of being Australian leaders in the recycled plastic manufacturing industry.
In the late 70’s, brothers Brad and Russell Muller started a business venture in Ballarat, Victoria, centred on developing kerbside collection and material recovery facilities, pioneering the kerbside recycling industry. For years, Russell and Brad experimented with a variety of mixed waste plastics, using modified second-hand machinery to suit the waste material.
With the reprocessing of waste plastic from kerbside collections and driven by the shear amount of waste going to landfill, Brad and Russell, along with friends George and Cathy Mingin, founded Australian Recycling Technologies (ART) on the 26th March 1991, and registered Replas Products to distinguish their products from competitors.
The team, with only 3 employees, developed technology and designed moulds and work procedures to take the plastic waste and reprocess it into useful items like inground hydrant and valve boxes and the famous Hume Setting, installed on the Hume and Western Highways.
PRESENT DAY
In 2010, Replas opened a distribution centre, known as The Replas Resource Centre (RRC) in Carrum Downs, Victoria. The establishment of the RRC has enabled the company to ensure consistent quality of service and product. Along with the RRC, the Sales Office is home to the Replas Environmental Centre (REC). The Replas Environmental Centre (REC) is one of the largest plastic recycling centres in the southern hemisphere. A visit to the REC offers an innovative and interactive learning experience and gives visitors an opportunity to discover some of the answers to the problems faced by our planet.
Replas now produces a range of over 200 products and has grown to become Australia’s leading mix plastic product manufacturers. Replas is also at the forefront of technology, now boasting a range of state-of-the-art machinery tended by the latest robotic technology.
At Replas, we see waste as a valuable resource, and are part of making this world more sustainable. What is the environmental cost in not being involved in the circular economy? By re-thinking your selection and procurement to recycled plastic products, you become the true recycler. Everyone touches plastic and we must be more accountable and responsible if we are to drive demand for recycled plastic products
Chris Smith presenting a terrific history and present day evolution of the recycling plastics industry. His talk resulted in many many questions and a great deal of discussion after the meeting had officially closed.
A man is driving down the road and breaks down near a monastery. He goes into the monastery and asks the monks if he can stay for the night. They graciously accept and shelter him for the night, and even help fix his car. As he’s trying to fall asleep, he hears a very strange sound.
The next morning, he asks the monks what the sound was, but they say “Sorry, we can't tell you, you're not a monk.” He’s disappointed, but he thanks them anyway and heads out.
Years later, he breaks down in front of the same monastery, and once again, the monks take him in for the night. He hears the same strange sound, he asks again what it was. They tell him the same thing they told him before: “Sorry, we can't tell you, you're not a monk.”
At this point, the man says “Alright, I’m dying to know. If the only way I can find out is to become a monk, then how do I become a monk?”
The monks tell him “You must travel the earth and count every blade of grass and every grain of sand there is. Return to us with these numbers, and you will be made a monk.”
Determined, the man sets off to his task. Decades later, he returns to the monastery.
He tells the monks “I have traveled the earth and found the information you requested. There are 145,236,687,353 blades of grass and 246,243,379,574,475,133 grains of sand on the earth.”
The monks reply “Congratulations, you are now a monk. We will now lead you to the source of the sound.”
They lead him to a large, ornate wooden door. The source of the sound is right behind this door.
He reaches for the handle, only to find it is locked.
He says “Very funny. May I have the key?”
The monks provide the key, and he opens the door, only to find that behind the wooden door is a large, elaborate stone door.
He demands the key to this door as well, only to find a large, intricate silver door behind it.
Behind the silver door is another door, made of gold. Behind the gold door is another door, made of ruby. Behind the ruby door is another door, made of sapphire.
The process goes on for several more doors, made of emerald, topaz, and amethyst.
Finally, the monks tell the man that he has reached the final door. He’s relieved to have finally reached the end.
He unlocks the final door, and pulls it open, amazed to finally find the source of the strange noise.
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