Local resident Khan Thorpe aims to make a difference to the local community, and eventually the country, though the efforts of his organisation, Blue.Planet_co.
Supported from the ground up by a network of volunteers, Blue.Planet_co started out as a simple personal project of Mr Thorpe’s as he recalled his dad commenting on the amount of rubbish in a lake that they strolled past.
Resonating with Mr Thorpe, he waded into the water and inadvertently removed litter for hours on end without realising it. Knowing that there were so many other places that were similarly dominated by rubbish, and without anyone seeming to want to help the cause, he decided that he had to do something about it on a larger scale than just one lake.
Over a year later, Blue.Planet_co has grown from a basement operation to one which boasts many volunteers committed to keeping the planet clean.
Mr Thorpe explained that with the scope of the program increasing, the organisation has been forced to alter its methods of removal of the rubbish collected at their cleaning sites.
Local Member of Parliament, Mr Tony Piccolo praised the work that Mr Thorpe and all the volunteers that support his organisation are able to achieve for the Gawler community.
“Mr Thorpe is a dedicated and driven young man who cares about the future of the planet enough to actually go out and make a difference, and the number of volunteers behind him are testament to his vision for a brighter future for the community,” Mr Piccolo said.
“On behalf of the Gawler community, I would like to thank Mr Thorpe and Blue.Planet_co for their ongoing efforts in securing a cleaner, greener Gawler and I hope to see them reach a wider audience in the coming years.”
Blue.Planet_co has published a plan for what they want to achieve over the next five years and Mr Thorpe said that while their short-term goal is to help the community, they are dreaming of expanding their influence far beyond Gawler.
“I wanted it to start locally to focus on cleaning up waste and recycling it and over time establish a few groups across South Australia, and then over time have groups across Australia helping out,” Mr Thorpe explained.
“Our overall goal is to recycle everything and turn waste back into useful products, so we hope to create factories that are designed to do that with materials that we are currently unable to properly recycle.
“Not everyone will understand the work that we’re doing but we all live on one planet, and for Gawler residents we all live in one area, so you might as well help out,” he said.
Blue Planet Co are holding a “clean up” event this coming Saturday (3rd October) between 9 and 10am at Dead Man’s Pass. New volunteers are welcome to join him, with Blue.Planet_co providing all the bags, but attendees will need to bring their own gloves.
For those interested in further information, message blue.planet_co on Facebook or Instagram.