Forbes is taking a lead in boosting initiatives to support the recycling industry by diverting tens of thousands of plastic bottles from landfill by choosing to buy 100% recycled plastic drainage pipes.

In a move to improve the environmental efficiency of its quarries, Forbes Shire Council examined ways to use recycled products wherever possible, and found products produced by regional Victorian manufacturer RPM Pipes are made from 100% recycled plastic. The decision to use RPM pipes for drainage in the quarries will divert the equivalent of 80,000 plastic milk bottles from landfill.

“Our pipes are around the same price and exactly the same quality as non-recycled pipes that are currently used across Australia, but the big difference is that we recycle the equivalent of up to 5000 milk bottles with every pipe that we sell,” RPM Pipes CEO Mr Terry Kay said.

“With major challenges ahead for Australia to improve recycling rates and find solutions for our plastic waste, we’re pretty excited to see councils like Forbes prepared to lead the way and demonstrate support for regional Australian family companies.”

The 192-metre drainage project using 100% recycled stormwater pipe for new drainage is a significant step forward in starting to close the loop for recyclable products.

Forbes Shire Council Mayor Phyllis Miller said Forbes was proud to be leading the way, supporting Australia’s recycling industry.

“Like residents across Forbes, I want to know that the milk bottle left behind after my coffee and the detergent bottle that I have just used up are going to be recycled, not sent to landfill,” Terry said.

By choosing to use these 100% recycled pipes from RPM Pipes, Forbes is demonstrating that supporting the recycling sector does not mean compromising the budget or quality of infrastructure.

Bryan Monkton and crew on the Catalina.

On Friday, 20 April 1945, the Catalina 43 Squadron RAAF, with Skipper Bryan Monkton’s crew, took off from the waters of Lingayen Gulf in the Philippines. It was my father’s 13th sortie since his crew’s operational duty commenced a day after Boxing day, 1944.

The target on this night was a shipping channel between Hainan and China’s mainland. The Cats were involved in covert mine laying operations supported by the US 7th Fleet, a strategy which demanded decades of secrecy by all who were involved. Thus, my father revealed very little information to me about it. Matching his log book entries to the now available operations documentation online, and reading the story in a book by his old skipper published in 2005, 25 years after dad died, I was able to get a precise perspective of what went on.

The operation on this particular night involved a 12 hour round trip across the South China Sea, to a precise point, to drop the two 907kg high explosive American mines around midnight.

The first was dropped with perfect precision however, on the second drop, the small drogue parachute failed to open which exploded the mine on impact with the water, the men saw the flash first.

Closely following the flash was the force of the explosion. The Catalina reacted as though it had been kicked from beneath by a giant boot. Missing hitting the water from this low altitude by who knows how little, the crew was thrown from their positions and a few scrapes and minor injuries were reported. My father described how much of the fabric covering of the wing trailing edge, ailerons, and elevators, had been blasted off, alongside bits of the mine’s shrapnel that had pierced and holed the hull. He never spoke about it much. The only way that the aircraft and crew could limp back to the Philippines was to throw out all the guns, ammunition, and anything else they did not need. Going down in these waters meant likely capture and execution.

Six hours in the dark, running out of fuel and on one engine for the last miles over land, they finally made water and ran the flying boat almost onto the beach where the Americans were waiting. Monkton writes, “The ramp crewmen were waiting for us in their work boat, ready to attach the beaching wheels, and we were pleased to let them take over.”

It must have been a frightening experience. On the other side of the world, Hitler was not having a great last birthday either. The log-book entry reads: Lingayen Gulf-Hainan St-Lingayen Gulf. Mine exploded on impact.

Just days later they headed back to Darwin, and eventually returned to the Philippines in July for the very last mining ops by the RAAF. Later, a last strike, in daylight, the day before the ceasefire.

By Peter Irvine