Members of Repurposing for Resilience Eurobodalla talking with representatives from Bega’s Regional Circularity Co-operative. Photos: Supplied.
Since July 2023, Repurposing for Resilience Eurobodalla (RfR) has diverted 1826 solar panels from landfill. Including the 620 it had already collected, it has saved 2446 panels from premature death.
That has benefitted Eurobodalla Shire Council to the tune of $24,460 because it saved it from paying $10 for each panel to be shipped halfway across the country to be stockpiled, and eventually pulled apart.
RfR presented the statistics to a gathering on Friday (14 March). Attendees included executives from the council’s sustainability and waste teams; Gary Bruce, who heads the council’s planning and environment department; five councillors, including Mayor Mat Hatcher; representatives from Fire to Flourish; representatives from the Regional Circularity Co-operative in Bega; and Federal Member for Gilmore Fiona Phillips.
RfR committee member Lisa Cornthwaite said RfR was a small grassroots organisation with massive achievements.
“We are trying to strengthen our relationship with these groups because I think there have been a lot of missed opportunities to work with them and promote what we are doing,” she said.
RfR only moved into its premises at the Moruya Waste Transfer Station in April 2024, but the volunteers have been making a difference and knocking on doors for eight years.
Diverting solar panels from landfill is its biggest initiative, but not the only one.
RfR visually inspects each solar panel before testing it for safety. The volunteer group then benchmarks the panel’s performance efficiency against the original manufacturing specifications.
Ms Cornthwaite said more than 75 per cent of the panels could be used. They returned to the community, either gifted or at heavily discounted prices, with a warranty.
“It is this warranty which has increased consumer confidence in a second-hand market,” she said. “The money received goes back into other activities like workshops.”
Repurposing for Resilience founding member Stephen Cornthwaite demonstrating workshop equipment to Federal Member for Gilmore Fiona Phillips.
She said RfR was not opposed to recycling when something was smashed and at the end of its useful life. However, if something was still working or could be repurposed, “let’s reuse and repurpose before we even consider recycling”.
Solar panels that cannot be given a warranty have been repurposed into furniture, and used for fencing, dog kennels, garden beds, signboards, and even as canvases for art.
Another example of repurposing was its Lanterns from Waste project, which transformed recycled materials into lanterns that illuminated the 2023 River of Art festival.
RfR is keen to collaborate with the Bega Valley and Shoalhaven councils to manage waste streams across the shires.
In its sights is a bespoke Industrial Materials Recovery plant to process broken solar panels on the South Coast.
“That would keep the footprint small by processing our waste here and extracting materials from it,” Ms Cornthwaite said.
She said Andrew Taylor of the Regional Circularity Co-operative was supportive.
“They will include us as a case study because we are the first of our kind, and will help us with promotion and education,” Ms Cornthwaite said. “That to us is gold because it will help us to secure funding.”
The plant would cost around $1.5 to $2 million.
Repurposing for Resilience members gathered representatives from Eurobodalla Shire Council and other organisations to explain what they have achieved and what they are trying to do.
Ms Cornthwaite is also proud of its electrical apprenticeship trade training, which now operates from the Gundry Community Centre in Moruya.
It means electrical apprentices on the South Coast do not have to travel to Sydney, Nowra or Canberra for classes.
It currently runs three classes, with a fourth to be added soon.
When RfR had spoken to TAFEs in the area, it had been told there wasn’t a need.
”We now have 50 apprentices, and the drop-out rate has been almost nil, whereas in Canberra, where I was doing my apprenticeship, the drop-out rates were high because it was so hard travelling to Canberra,” Ms Cornthwaite said.
RfF has built a training space in Bodalla where it has run 16 free and low-cost workshops to upskill the community.
It also built a prototype Community Access Solar Power Trailer. The mobile emergency power hub can be deployed for rapid emergency response, community events, and to support local households.
Ms Cornthwaite said Friday was a fabulous get-together and long overdue.
“We wanted them to understand what we are doing and what we are trying to achieve.”
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