While many are trying to reduce their use, some are finding new and helpful ways to recycle unavoidable waste.

The Lorn Kitchen owners Craig and Kathy Wyborn have long been recyclers of soft plastics at local supermarkets but were unsure of what to do with those pesky milk bottle lids.

Related: Maitland council wants to build a waste transfer station to improve its recycling

"About two weeks ago I read about Envision Hands," Mrs Wyborn said.

"They recycle plastic bottle tops and make artificial hands and send them over [to other countries].

"It just fills your heart up when you can see the little kids with their new hands, especially in the more underdeveloped countries."

So how does a simple milk bottle lid become part of a life-changing tool for physically impaired children?

Once collected at regional locations and delivered to Envision Hands, the plastic lids are crushed down to small pellets.

They are then converted into 3D filament - a thick, threadlike strand of plastic to be fed into a 3D printer.

From there, they are transformed into plastic hands which can be manipulated by the person wearing them.

How can you help?

The Lorn Kitchen is now indefinitely a collection centre where people in the Maitland area can drop off their milk bottle lids.

Other drink bottle lids can be helpful too.

How can you tell if your bottle lid is eligible?

They must have a 2 or 4 written on the underside of the cap.

To contribute to the collection, rinse your bottle lids, put them in a plastic bag and drop them in the The Lorn Kitchen's collection bin.

They will then pass them on to Envision Hands.

"On the Envision website you can can see lots of stuff they've done," Mrs Wyborn said.

"There are videos of kids with their artificial hands."

Mrs Wyborn said she had received a lot of feedback from interested members of the public.

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The Wyborns are no stranger to support from the community when it comes to their humanitarian efforts.

This weekend they will host what they hope will be their first of many Pink Sock Saturdays at the cafe in support of Hunter Breast Cancer Foundation.

For every person who enters the cafe wearing pink socks, they will donate 50c from their coffee to the foundation.

For more information, find The Lorn Kitchen on Facebook.