A SMALL hole in a strip of plastic has won Ross-on-Wye inventor Peter Martin a gold medal at the International Exhibition of Inventions in Geneva.

His patented Re:tie concept is simple, but shows just what can be achieved by an inventive approach to recycling.

Peter has redesigned the security closure strip used in many drinks bottles and jars, by introducing a block with a hole.

This means the strip can be saved and reused as a tie in the garden, for cabling, for bags - for anything which needs tying together.

He took his invention to Geneva with his company Junkk.com, and won the award against stiff competition from the world's top inventors and major research and development institutions.

"It's one of those Why didn't anyone think of this before?' ideas," says Peter, whose free website Junkk.com has been created to share how virtually any potentially discardable item can be reused.

The RE:tie may be a small change to a piece of plastic, but every little bit helps when it comes to reducing waste and helping save the planet.

He is also hoping to turn the commercial and public interest in RE:tie into further official support for his free re:use ideas website initiative Junkk.com - which offers people a way to exchange second use ideas for all sorts of products and packaging.

"After immense interest and support from the 70,000 international visitors to the show, I'd like to accelerate my plans to expand the site into other languages, and establish its postcode localisation facility into other countries."

Peter is now seeking investors for RE:tie.