SINCE Lids4Kids began in June, 2019, more than 98 million plastic lids have been saved from ending up in landfill.

In the last two months, founder Tim Miller says Lids4Kids has found itself a permanent home in Fyshwick between Powerkart Raceway and the Fresh Food Markets, and in the last 12 months, Lids4Kids has become a national charity.

“The sad thing is that there’s not a living organism left on the planet that doesn’t have microplastic inside it,” says Tim, 46, of Aranda.

“In every other state we’ve been able to pair our collectors up with a local plastic recycling facility and they process it into something.

“Every state’s different. In some they’re making landscaping supplies like paving bricks and railway sleepers, in others they’re making playground equipment and outdoor furniture.

“The ACT is the only jurisdiction where we don’t have a plastic manufacturer or recycler, so the thing I’m most proud of is that we’ve now closed the loop in the ACT. By making benches here locally we close the loop on every single lid that we get.”

Tim says Lids4Kids wants to show schools in particular, and workplaces, that once 15,000 lids are collected, that equals one bench.

“We don’t paint them or dye the plastic, each one of those slabs in the rainbow bench is that coloured plastic. It also shows people that all of the stuff they’ve collected can turn into something physical that lasts well over 100 years,” he says.

“And, once they’re finished with it, it can be recycled again.”

Tim says the University of Newcastle put out a scary statistic four years ago.

“Each of us ingest enough microplastic through food, water and air to equal a credit card every single week,” he says.

“And, did you know nothing smaller than a credit card gets recycled?”

To help make a difference, Lids4Kids has zero-waste buckets for people to use in offices, homes or schools, to collect anything smaller than a credit card.

“On top of soft drink and milk bottle lids, we now can use aluminium foil, metal wine caps, beer tops, blister packs for tablets and mobile phones, batteries and cords,” he says.

The most recent project for Tim makes use of another plastic item, the only one Lids4Kids can’t process.

“The squeezy yoghurt pouch lids, they are round so when we put them in our shredder it just ping-pongs around like popcorn,” he says.

Fortunately, the Lions Club of Canberra City donated a van to Lids4Kids, just in time for the Hands Across Canberra charity appeal.

“The first $5000 each individual charity raised got matched by a corporate partner,” says Tim.

“Each charity was encouraged to fundraise in a cool, unusual or quirky way.

“So, we decided to use our van, and for every dollar donated to Lids4Kids we would put a squeezy lid on the van.

“It will take 20,000 lids to cover the whole van. Through Hands Across Canberra we put 4000 lids on it, and it took me 102 hours. Very generously, Selleys donated 100 tubes of liquid nails to glue the lids on.”

Tim admits he’s colourblind, and had to get his three sons to colour-sort the lids.

“We started off with a rainbow on the front of the van,” he says.

“I’m a bogan, and I’ve got my motorsport team, so I wanted flames going up the side.

“On the other side we’re going to do a big picture of Earth, and then on the roof we’re going to do a big whale shark.”

He says now, with the van part-way decorated, he can’t drive 100 metres down the road without people waving.

“It’s raised awareness for us, that nothing smaller than a credit card can be recycled, which is great,” he says. 

“I suffer from chronic pain and I’m quite unwell from several incurable conditions including Crohn’s disease and fibromyalgia.

“Yet, I think by doing good, you feel good so whatever endorphins I get from doing good are definitely helping me.

“I’m pretty happy and I’m more than comfortable now that I’ve got Emma as CEO. Lids4Kids is a solid thing. That legacy is there and it’ll keep going after I’m gone. That’s all I wanted.”

To volunteer or donate, “just walk in” at 141 Canberra Avenue, Fyshwick, between 10am and 2pm, or visit lids4kids.org.au