Greenbatch joins the Perth Rotary Club as a Corporate Member on Thursday 23 July 2020.
Greenbatch is the second organisation to be inducted to Perth Rotary Corporate Membership for 2020/21. Perth Rotary is very excited to bring on board our first corporate member with an environmental focus immediately following the Rotary International announcement of Friday 26 June of the 7th Area of Focus for Rotary International:
“The Rotary Foundation Trustees and Rotary International Board of Directors have added a new area of focus: supporting the environment.
More than $18 million in Foundation global grant funding has been allocated to environment-related projects over the past five years. Creating a distinct area of focus to support the environment will give Rotary members even more ways to bring about positive change in the world and increase our impact.
Supporting the environment becomes Rotary's seventh area of focus, which are categories of service activities supported by global grants.
It joins peace building and conflict prevention; disease prevention and treatment; water, sanitation, and hygiene; maternal and child health; basic education and literacy; and community economic development.
Darren Lomman commenced his career as a nineteen year old engineering student with Dreamfit Foundation which is a not-for-profit organisation that specializes in "Designing Dreams for People with Disabilities through Innovative Engineering Solutions".
Daren was inspired to create Greenbatch after learning the shocking estimation of plastic vs fish in the ocean and a desire to create a better environment not only for his children, but all children in Western Australia, Australia and the world. It is hard to believe that by 2050 with no change in our current practices, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish.
Greenbatch was launched off the back of a 2017 crowd funding campaign and the work of turning plastic bottles into 3D filament began... initially with a pair of scissors, a paper shredder and a will to make a difference. From those early days, Greenbatch has grown in size and recognition with Western Australia's first PET reprocessing plant now installed. Greenbatch can now process 500kg of plastic per hour and are working towards increasing this to 5000kg per hour.
Darren has been a member of Perth Rotary Club for two years and has now progressed his social enterprise to Corporate status.
Darren has been recognized by his peers and the community with the following awards:
- 2005 Biomedical Engineer of the Year
- 2006 Jack Bendat Scholarship
- 2006 WA Citizen of the Year
- 2006 WA Young Person of the Year
- 2007 40 Under 40 Winner
- 2007 National Disability Awards
- 2007 WA Young Australian of the Year
- 2009 Churchill Fellowship
- 2014 40 Under 40
- 2014 Established Leader Award
- 2014 Paul Harris Award
- 2014 Top Ten Most Oustanding Young People of the World
- 2016 Alumni Achievement Award
- 2016 Community Services Award