When Tim Miller and his family began recycling bottles and cans in Canberra, they soon ran into a problem. What should they do with the non-recyclable lids?

Key points: Victorian charity Envision uses 3D printing software to turn plastic bottle lids into mobility aids

Victorian charity Envision uses 3D printing software to turn plastic bottle lids into mobility aids Father Tim Miller launches Lids 4 Kids to help collect bottle caps

Father Tim Miller launches Lids 4 Kids to help collect bottle caps He hopes to collect 250,000 bottle caps in the ACT alone

Mr Miller is unable to work as he has bowel disease, osteoporosis and liver disease. At 43, he has been told he has just nine years to live, and he is determined to use that time to help the community.

Which is where the humble bottle top comes in.

After beginning to collect recyclables at the Aranda street library for fundraising purposes, he and his family realised that the caps on the bottles could not be recycled in the ACT.

"We were collecting hundreds of lids and we weren't sure what to do with them," he said.

The answer, it turned out, involved a charity in Victoria and brightly coloured plastic limbs for child amputees.

"I got my kids to help me set up a Facebook page, and we had a look on the interweb, and we discovered through Dr Google there was a group called Envision," he said.

One of its latest projects is Envision Hands, where plastic bottle lids are processed and turned into mobility aids for children.

"Once I found out that, I thought that's fantastic," Mr Miller said.

"It ticks all the three boxes for us — it helps out with the environment, it helps out kids with a disability, and the other thing I like about it is that the group employs disadvantaged people."

Through their charity Facebook page, Mr Miller and his children launched Lids 4 Kids.

The Envision Hands team refashions bottle tops into plastic hands and arms. ( ABC News: Sean Warren )

"Within that first 48 hours, we had eight cafes volunteer to not only collect the lids from all the milk cartons they go through each day, but also to be a collection point for their suburb," he said.

"We have already got a trailer and a whole bunch of plastic tubs organised, and a volunteer to drive them down to Melbourne for us later in the year."

Recipients 'over the moon'

Once the lids are transported to Envision Hands' warehouse in Melbourne, they are cleaned and organised into colours.

Next, they are shredded and then fed through an extruder, which produces an ink-like filament.

That filament is then used in conjunction with 3D software to print the mobility aids.

Joint Director of Envision Sean Teer said the first limb went overseas to a hospitalised boy in India.

"The family was over the moon," Mr Teer said.

"It's such a great thing for the kids. It's not just a matter of how practical it is, it's also psychological."

Mr Miller hopes to collect 250,000 bottle caps in the ACT alone. ( ABC News: Elle Conway )

The program set out with a goal to collect one million bottle caps, but it has already surpassed that number.

Mr Teer said he was grateful for bottle cap donations from those in Victoria and interstate.

"Places like Canberra and Sydney have really jumped on board," he said.

Canberra cause continues

Back in Canberra, Mr Miller and his boys have set themselves their own target, looking to collect 250,000 bottle caps in the ACT alone.

"It's making a product that's completely made of recycled materials that helps someone with their quality of life," Mr Miller said.

"Every charity that we fundraise for, whether it be one that helps sick kids or disabled kids, or this one in particular that's helping kids overseas, it's all run by volunteers.

"We're all just regular people, we all have normal backgrounds and normal jobs, but in some way every one of us has been touched by someone with cancer, or with a disability, and it feels really good to help out with that stuff."

Lids can be dropped off at the Aranda Street library on Gingana Street, or at other venues across Canberra.