Boddington RRR doing their part to help the community recycle

In a world where many are unsure about what to do to combat rising waste levels, one Boddington resident has been rolling up her sleeves and making an inspired difference.

Eugene Smalberger is the founder and president of Boddington RRR (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) and has seen first-hand the dangers of irresponsible recycling during her time living in Indonesia.

“A lot of this stuff they can’t recycle either, so they take the money but they dump it into rivers and things like that,” Ms Smalberger said.

“Because I have the understanding of that, I thought this would be a better way to handle it.”

In January last year, Ms Smalberger started collecting bottle caps at her business, the Rusty Camp Oven Cafe, to raise awareness that the caps are not recyclable.

But after an emphatic community response, the project snowballed, with bottle caps and recyclable materials flooding in.

Boddington RRR was then granted approval to use the old council sheds.

By August, the company had bought a second-hand plastic shredder, paper shredders and a box press to set up its new processing plant.

Boddington RRR created the innovative park benches on Bannister Road, made from recycled bottles and bottle caps.

But the operation’s rapid expansion has meant the group now also sends excess recyclable materials to Perth and is consulting with companies in Wandering and Pinjarra.

Recently it created a second-hand wash-up trailer sponsored by Keep Australia Beautiful.

“Originally we started with bottle caps and we were just going to make sculptures and make people aware that the caps were not recyclable,” Ms Smalberger said.

“Now we get things like irrigation pipes and hard hats because a hard hat can’t be recycled, and no one in a recycling plant has the patience to pull these things apart.

“I think a lot of people who weren’t that conscious understand it better now, and they’re really passionate about it.”