Caps off to collectors

19th June 2009

That aluminum wine cap you just dropped into the bin just cost a child with kidney ailments one crucial second on a dialysis machine.

So imagine the benefit a mere collection of two or three hundred tops collected by a couple of individuals over a few months could do ... let alone 800,000 tops.

"Just fantastic," was New Zealand Kidney Kids chief executive officer Paul Norfolk's almost lost-for-words reaction, on hearing what the ladies of Hastings Pioneer Lions and the Hawke's Bay community had collected over six months. Eight packed fadges and several large buckets holding an estimated 800,000 caps, which a year earlier would likely have been consigned to rubbish bins after their bottles were opened.

Not any more.

There are collection buckets and tins in businesses, bars, offices, smoko rooms and homes all over the Bay, and the fundraising idea is now spreading throughout the country ... and even further afield.

"We are now even getting them from bars and restaurants in Australia, Hong Kong, Noumea, Japan, Norfolk Island ... I went to a place in Fiji and saw a collection tin on the bar," Mr Norfolk said as he presented Jonah Lomu-endorsed (Kidney Kids patron) awards to the Lions and Church Road Winery in Taradale.

"It is a great initiative and it is helping children."

The "Kan Tabs" idea was sparked by what Hastings Pioneer Lions member Michelle Crowther described as "a moment of boredom".

 "I sat there and started thinking about what we could do as a fundraiser to make some money."

Working in the wine industry she thought about wine bottles ... and the aluminium caps which sealed them.

She put the idea to her fellow Lions, and president Jesse Glassey said "let's run with it".

They approached Daphne Nichol at Church Road Winery and staff there immediately embraced the idea.

They put buckets out at concerts, passed them on to friends and to restaurants and bars.

Cellar door manager Doug McGechan said winery owners Pernod Ricard had long embraced sustainability and recycling programmes, and were delighted with the idea as it also assisted children.

Mrs Crowther said Lions were able to get a price of an extra 30c a kilogram over the usual scrap aluminium price because it was such a good cause, and said the first "round-up" of 800,000 caps would go close to $1000 - and more importantly, it meant 800,000 seconds of criticaldialysis.

* All the money raised will stay in Hawke's Bay for the benefit of local kidney kids.

* There are 147 children in Hawke's Bay with kidney disorders.

* There are 1515 children throughout New Zealand with kidney disorders.

* Kidney ailments in children are on the rise. Four years ago there were 750 young patients. Now the figure is double that.