Gerringong Lions Club reached a momentous milestone this month by recycling their one millionth can/bottle and raising $100,000 for charity.

“The Return and Earn recycling project, which we started five years ago, was our main means of income during the difficult COVID period when we couldn’t carry out our usual fundraising activities,” says Peter Jeffreys, the Club’s publicity officer.

Many hard-working Lions volunteers were involved in the collection and recycling scheme, which was initially suggested by Bruce Ray. Bruce designed the almost Heath Robinson-like contraption that helped volunteers process so many cans and bottles.

Each Monday morning, at the back of Michael Cronin Oval on Blackwood Street, volunteers take their position alongside the plumber’s piping which extrudes from the Return and Earn facility and in unison process hundreds of thousands of 10c refundable drink containers.

Initiator of the project, Bruce Ray, processing the one millionth can through Gerringong’s Return and Earn

Volunteers gather the items from local wedding venues, businesses and homes throughout the community.

Not only has the Club raised record amounts for charity, but every container returned makes an environmental impact.

According to the NSW Government’s Return and Earn website, recycling 950,000 bottles and cans means:

• saving 6 million litres of water or enough to fill 2 Olympic sized swimming pools,
• saving 1,316 gigajoules of energy or one household’s annual energy consumption for 11 years
• saving 60,000kg of land fill which is enough waste to fill 6 garbage trucks
• avoided 120,600kg of CO2 emissions which is the equivalent of keeping 45 cars off the road for one whole year.

To organise a pickup from your home call Bruce Ray on 0429 027 631. Crates can be supplied if needed.