Karlie Brady

Journalist

In recent weeks a new white picket fence made of recycled plastics has been erected around the Port Douglas AFL grounds and yesterday Federal Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch stopped by to view his “baby”.

For over six years Mr Entsch said he has wanted to create a unique boundary like this around the Port Douglas Crocs oval after seeing a wooden picket fence at an oval in Canberra, but the upkeep of the wood would have been too much for the club.

However, after being appointed Special Envoy to the Great Barrier Reef after the last election he became more aware of the many uses of recycled plastics.

“When you look at that fence it is not just a picket fence, there are tens of millions of discarded plastics sitting in there,” Mr Entsch said.

The plastic creates the look of a traditional white picket wooden fence but with easy upkeep and is the ultimate form of recycling.

“I thought not only does that create an iconic picturesque oval, but it’s also really special and unique, it is the only one in Far North Queensland.”

Mr Entsch was able to secure $110,000 infrastructure grant from the Federal Government for the club to build the project and said after 12 months of planning it is exactly as he pictured it.

“Here is a destination for a lot of people from places such as Melbourne, it’s an AFL town and the view is amazing, you couldn’t get a better spot.

“We are right on the edge of the reef and rainforest and here is a way to show what we can do with recycling.

”Mr Entsch said this is just the start for his ideas for using recycled plastics to create projects in his electorate.

“One of my visions for the time I continue in this job is to reopen a mining industry to mine landfill so we can recover the massive amounts of discarded plastics and tyres that can be turned into things like this white picket fence,” Mr Entsch said.