HORSHAM Scouts are collecting bread tags to help raise money for wheelchairs.
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Organisation Bread Tags for Wheelchairs has been running in South Africa since 2006. It collects bread tags for plastic company, Zibo, which then buys it for a small amount per kilogram.
The tags - which are high impact polystyrene, type 6 plastic - are recycled and then made into seedling trays.
The proceeds are used to provide wheelchairs for people in need. At present, about 500 kilograms of bread tags are collected each month in South Africa, funding two to three wheelchairs.
Joey Scout leader Katrina Fraser said the group was doing a recycling project - where they collected bread tags for wheelchairs, and bottle caps for prosthetic hands for Envision Hands.
Envision Hands is a not-for-profit community initiative that uses 3D printing to turn plastic waste into mechanical hands and arms for children, with the products being sent around the world.
"We have a five litre bucket of bread tags and we have bags and bags of bottle tops," she said.
Mrs Fraser said the Scouts were taught to be environmentally conscious from a young age and the initiative aligned with their programs.
"The Joeys are collecting in their own homes, from their grandparents, from schools. One of the girls have set-up collection points at Horsham West and she brings a big bag every Thursday," she said.
The bread tags were handed to Horsham's Kirsten Ridgeway - a Wimmera resident driving the cause.
Ms Ridgeway was the only person collecting bread tags when she started earlier this year. She now has about 12 collection points in Horsham, Nhill, Kaniva and Hamilton.
"It's really good that kids at such a young age are thinking about how to reuse different things and the impact that this cause has is fantastic," she said.
"One of the little girls said that her dad is a baker, so they will obviously have a fair bit of bread.
"It would be nice to either reuse those things or know that it would be used for such a good cause."
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