It is plastic free July and the importance of plastic waste awareness is being brought to attention.

Toowoomba startup Tops Off  is competing for a chance to represent in the Change Now Summit in Paris 2020 and gain potential funding. The creators of Tops Off Angela Murphy, Pawel Poloski, Leisa Clark and her 10-year-old son Ethan Clark were the winners at the Startup Weekend held in Toowoomba and are now the only Australian team competing in the global competition.

They are proposing to start a community recycling hub in Toowoomba to recycle plastics, such as bottle tops, chip, and extrude, which are currently being sent to landfill. These plastics will be converted into high-quality 3D printing filament as well as other products.

The goal is to develop a space for communities and schools to learn about the plastic life cycle and learn how to take responsibility for their own waste plastics. In partnership with the University of Southern Queensland‘s Makerspace, schools and communities will be taught to innovate with these plastics by prototyping ideas using 3D printers. Tops Off is going to develop a business model that can offer seed funding for other communities around Australia and internationally to open their own local recycling hubs. For this ambitious project to go ahead they need Australians to get on board and vote for them.

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