WHEN a client buys one of the furniture pieces they make from recycled plastic, Jess and Jeff Hodge like to inform their customer why it is a certain colour.
"For example we did a blue outdoor table and the blue was from Cold Power washing detergent bottles, and the white was from washing baskets," Mrs Hodge says.
"So we told them what the colours used to be and what was in it, so when people do come over and sit down they can say, 'Do you realise that there are 120 Cold Power bottles and 80 washing baskets are in this?'. You are getting people to strike up a tale about what it is made of and it's now in an object that can stay at your house for years rather than just being thrown out."
The Hodges launched their Beresfield company Resourceful Living on October 1 last year, the day they also welcomed their third son into the world.
Mr Hodge is a sustainability and mechanical and materials engineer, and both are passionate about protecting the environment and keeping manufacturing local.
"In our personal life we were conscious of waste and we wanted to do something that made a difference," says Mrs Hodge.
"During COVID I saw too many documentaries on recycling not working. I wanted to prove them wrong."
Resourceful Living did its research and purpose-built a machine in its Beresfield base to transform plastic waste into functional household and office furniture and items.
Mrs Hodge is the design "ideas" person, and her husband is the "technical" person who executes them.
The company collects yellow bin waste from council, agriculture and mining, specifically High Density Polyethylene (a Type 2 plastic used to make containers for milk, motor oil, shampoos and conditioners, soap bottles, detergents, and bleaches) and Low Density Polyethyelene (commonly used to make shopping bags).
"We couldn't find a machine that offered us what we needed that took a variety of different plastics. Since we are self-funded as well, cost was a deciding factor as well and this allowed us to build to our own machine to our own specifications. As we grow we can continue to take on more and more streams of plastic," she says.
Resourceful Living contracts a Sydney business to wash and shred the plastics, which arrive at their factory in flake or pellet form. The plastic is then weighed and put into moulds.
"We measure out the plastic into large 1200mm x 1200mm moulds, place it in our press and where it "moulds" with a bit of heat, thick claylike consistency for two hours. We then move it to our cold press for 24 hours. The next day we pull it out of our moulds, trim, sand and polish and off it goes. Plastic responds similar to wood so we use a lot of wood tools to give us a desired finish."
Resourceful Living is currently doing an order for 55 tables - repurposing a total of 1.5 tonne of recycled plastic - for a cafe in Brisbane. Off-cuts from large recycled sheets can be used to make smaller items such as chopping boards and wine caddies.
Mrs Hodge says a recent CSIRO report said the life-span of recycled plastic was up to 300 years.
"As we get bigger we hope to set up a buy back scheme where people can bring back their product and we can recycle it up to 10 times then process it into recycled oil."
With a goal of removing plastics from landfill and oceans, the Hodges believe small changes can make a big difference.
"Rather than waiting on governments and legislation to make change, I love to make change - I love seeing the sheets we use made into product, and not throwing plastic out because the contents are empty," says Mrs Hodge.
The company hopes to bring every aspect of its business in-house, and has nominated for the Hunter Manufacturing Awards category of outstanding startup.
Nominations for the awards close on August 19 and entry is free.
"I'm a big believer in wanting to bring more manufacturing back to the Hunter, COVID showed how quick global supply chains can be cut. I wanted to nominate to show and share with people what exciting things are happening in the region," Mrs Hodge says.
"We want to show people how their waste is being used and as we grow we want to hire more people."
