INSPIRED by an ABC program on waste – Willie Van Niekerk saw a real need to help address the waste problem.  That of course, was the start of an incredible four-year journey, that has brought Willie to recycling milk bottles and tops into furniture and fence droppers.

Keeping the manufacturing local, in Mount Gambier, was also of the utmost importance.

“I grew up close to a nature reserve and developed a deep love for nature from a young age.  I have always been curious about how things are made and pursued engineering as a career.  With the creation of Ecoplas Australia, I get to combine these two interests for the betterment of the environment in the region.”

Now, having an industrial idea is one thing, but bringing that idea to life it quite another.

Willie spent six months in a process of research and trial and error, and he readily admits that the first efforts were in fact rubbish, but honing his skills allowed him to manufacture plastic tables and picnic furniture.

And so, Ecoplas Australia – Plastic Recycling began.

Now, further through the process, Willie turned his thoughts to wider uses and invested in equipment to allow him to manufacture fence droppers.

The idea was to create a circular system, where the milk comes from farms which created the need for milk bottles, then the milk bottles are returned to the farms in the form of fence droppers. Each dropper is made from 7.5 locally recycled milk bottles.

“We purchase shredded and washed milk bottles from recyclers in South Australia and Victoria, then granulate them for use in our extruders. We also receive plastic bottle lids from all over South Australia and Victoria and crush them into small flakes. These are then blended with a master-batch containing colour and UV-stabilisers, before extruding the final product: durable plastic fence droppers.”

The manufacturing process has been streamlined, making the product both time and cost efficient. Currently employing two other staff, there is room for expansion as the business grows.

Now the raw product that is required to make these droppers is the number 2 plastic – a high density polyethylene (HDPE) – unfortunately the product is not available directly from councils, as they don’t have the capacity to sort the recycling.

Willie sources the cleaned (uncontaminated) class 2 plastics from Adelaide and Geelong and is now supplying recycled plastic fence droppers to retailers in Mount Gambier and Lucindale in SA, and in the south-west of Victoria including Warrnambool. So, check your local retailer for these environmentally conscious fence droppers. Who would have thought that fencing could be earth friendly too?

Ecoplas Fence Droppers are 100 per cent made from recycled plastic. They are stiffer than comparable plastic droppers and are UV-stabilised to last for 40 plus years. They are rust, rot and insect damage free and are suitable for electric fences. They are easy to install, and the wire clips are also available. The Ecoplas recycled fence droppers come in 940mm, 1070mm, and 1170mm lengths, but can be customised to any length required.

Willie is also producing a fence baton, which is bigger than the current droppers – 1.5 x 2 inch (2 x 5cm) and 1145mm long, they are drilled so that wire can be threaded through.

Willie would like to personally thank those who have supported his product and his dream for minimising waste.

“Together we have recycled over half a million milk bottles and three million bottle lids. Final numbers for last year were 23.8 ton recycled - 423,809 milk bottles and 2,857,142 bottle lids.”

Poly pipe and old plastic fence droppers can also be recycled.