The Rotary Club of Cobar is continuing to collect aluminium cans to raise funds for community projects.
Despite the recent introduction of the Return and Earn NSW container deposit scheme, Cobar Rotarian Gordon Hill believes Cobar residents will continue to support the Rotary Club by delivering their aluminum cans in the Rotary collection cages around town.
The closest container deposit scheme collection points to Cobar are in Bourke and Dubbo.
“It will be interesting to see what happens if the system were to be available in Cobar,” Mr Hill said.
He said in the meantime, Rotary will continue to collect cans which are sold as scrap metal to Matthew’s Metal who come to Cobar four times a year.
Mr Hill said it was originally Rotarian Max Humphries’ idea to collect cans to help raise money for the Brennan Centre subsidised rental facility.
“Age has caught up with Max and the task was handed on to me.
“We have broadened it now and the money goes to other club projects as well as the Brennan Centre,” Mr Hill said.
Projects who have benefited in the past from can collection include the installation of lights for Cobar Cadets’ storage containers and the purchase of handwashing stations for local schools.
“We raise on average $1,000 a year, depending on the price of scrap metal which ranges from 40 cents to 90 cents a kilogram.
“We could safely say we have raised between $5,000 to $6,000 in the past six years,” Mr Hill said.
The Rotary can collection project commenced in 2012 when the club received a $3,600 grant from the Keep Australia Beautiful Council to help reduce the amount of aluminum cans being discarded and going to land fill.
Steel mesh collection cages were constructed to be distributed around Cobar and a
box trailer was also purchased to aid in collection.
Mr Hill said there are a number of collection cages around town with the two most used cages to be found in the carpark of Khan’s SUPA IGA supermarket and at the fire station.
