A new mould for plastics

Toby Whittington sees the complexities associated with going completely plastic free.

The founder of Made in the City of, a new Perth retailer fashioning plastic waste into new products, grew up in a world where plastic was seen as a miraculous material.

“You can do so many things with plastic,” Mr Whittington said.

He said there was so much of the material around that using recycled plastics was a better option as people transitioned away from it.

Made in the City of, which opened on Barrack Street last night (Thursday) as part of Perth Design Week, sells products made of recycled container lids.

Mr Whittington, also the founder of WA-based charity Green World Revolution, is producing planter boxes from the lids that contain the microgreens he developed via the charity in 2012.

The business sources its lids from businesses around Perth, including BHP, St Ives Retirement Village, and various cafes.

“We’ve got an arrangement with the caterers for the BHP tower, who have coffee machines on 20 levels, and they are using 1,500 containers of milk a week, which means 1,500 lids,” Mr Whittington said.

Made in the City of has just processed 110,000 lids and is aiming for 1 million.

Mr Whittington said lids from drink containers weren’t recyclable, but turning them into a larger product such as a microgreen tray, key ring, or card holder, created a recyclable product.

“Not only are we making a product recyclable, we are returning it to the circular economy,” he said.

Made in the City Of’s shopfront is at 69 Barrack Street, which Perth property player Randal Humich owns.

When Mr Humich heard about the initiative he agreed to a peppercorn lease on the venue, which was formerly Chicking chicken shop.

“We chose it [because] it is set up to retrofit this kind of operation,” Mr Whittington, who was a 2017 Business News 40under40 winner, said.

The fashioned planter box with Mr Whittington's microgreens. Photo: David Henry

He explained that he wanted somewhere with an extractor fan, which was necessary when he melted down the plastics and moulded them into products.

Mr Whittington’s business started when COVID decimated his business selling urban farming equipment to the hospitality industry.

He learned the art of manufacturing working in the high-end fashion industry, selling clothing for up to $6,000 apiece around the world.

Keyrings made from plastic lids. Photo: David Henry

Through his work, he has worked with more than 5,000 long-term unemployed people, and provided jobs for more than 25 individuals.

He is aiming to provide employment for this demographic through Made in the City of, but said he needs the community to come on board.

“We need the city of Perth to get behind us and buy products so we can employ people,” he said.

In addition, Mr Whittington is seeking ideas from businesses about which products they would like moulded for them.