LOCALS are being encouraged to save their simple plastic bread tags to help change a person’s life, as passionate community members seek to save on waste and help towards the purchase of wheelchairs for those in need.
Aussie Bread Tags for Wheelchairs is an offshoot of the South African organisation Bread Tags for Wheelchairs, which started in 2006.
Bread tags donated across Australia make their way to Transmutation: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, in Robe, where they are made into various items such as bowls and cheese boards, and a portion of the proceeds than donated to the South African charity that supplies wheelchairs to disadvantaged people in the region.
Kimberlee Murdoch, of Loxton, said she got involved last year as she has a child who uses a wheelchair.
“I hate landfill; we only have one planet to live on and there’s only so much space we can use to bury rubbish, so the more I can recycle, the better,” she said.
“My daughter is a wheelchair user and I am exceedingly grateful to our health care system that hasn’t left her needing for anything.
“One of my main purposes in life is to help others, in many and varied ways. This is an incredibly easy way I can help.
“Collecting these tags is a very easy thing we can do to reduce our landfill contribution; in landfill, they take about 450 years to break down.”
Bread Tags for Wheelchairs started in 2006 in South Africa by retired nurse Mary Honeybun, and has funded over 800 wheelchairs. The movement spread to Australia and by late 2018, a national collection network was put in place.
By early 2020, over 350 collection points spanned the country and over 100kg of bread tags were recycled every month. To fund an entry-level wheelchair, 250kg of bread tags are needed, although some cost more, depending on the client’s needs.
Ms Murdoch said current estimates indicate five per cent of bread tags in Australia are being donated to the initiative.
“There are a couple official collection points in the Riverland and I am eagerly looking for businesses to get involved to be public drop off points, from which I will collect and transport to Adelaide,” she said.
Funds raised are regularly forwarded to the South African initiative, where they are used to buy wheelchairs.
To register locally as a bread tag collection point, call Kimberlee Murdoch on 0429 807 956 or Gwen Webber on 0408 609 304.
For more information on the initiative, including bread tag collection locations and various ways to donate, visit www.ozbreadtagsforwheelchairs.org.au/.

Bread tag drop-off locations: