Carol-Anne Armitage, manager for the
Mangere Bridge Progressive Business Association, has been hard at work over the
past year, assisting our business community in their efforts to reduce waste. Carol-Anne
became a WasteWise champion through her relationship with members of our Friends
of the Farm group. She has often observed that our passion for a WasteWise,
caring community is a good fit with the Business Association’s desire for a more
environmentally-friendly Village. A growing awareness of the upcoming changes
to Council kerbside collections has created interest amongst local businesses
in finding ways to keep the cost of waste disposal down and especially to avoid
passing it on to consumers through higher prices.
A waste audit of the café strip (carried
out by Sunshine Yates of Waste Not Consulting) revealed that leftover food and
food waste was going to landfill, where it releases greenhouse gasses when it breaks
down. Also, aware that many families struggle to put
food on the table, Carol-Anne used her local networks to find a use for the
leftover food. Te Whare Marama o Mangere (a women’s refuge), Monte Cecilia Housing
Trust and St Vincent de Paul Society embraced the opportunity to pick up the
café and restaurant leftovers at the end of each day and distribute them to
families accessing their services - a win-win situation for all!
Another outcome of the waste audit is a
proposed change in the bin system used by businesses in the café strip to two
larger Eco Stock food waste bins. These bins take all compostables, including
meat, and will actually cost less than the current bin arrangement. Once this
system is up and running it will be rolled out across the whole Village. “I’m excited
about these changes because they add value to our reputation as a responsible
business community,” Carol-Anne said, “I am also impressed with the willingness
of our business owners to climb on board this important community initiative.
Their willingness will earn the goodwill of local customers, who will feel
encouraged to frequent their premises.”
Carol-Anne’s next step is to progress a ‘plastic
bag free’ initiative in the Village. She would like to see people bringing
their own cloth bags as they used to, before plastic bags became so widely
used. “I try to remember to bring my own bags when I go shopping,” said
Carol-Anne, who once asked a SuperValue checkout operator to put her shopping
to one side while she ducked out to the car to retrieve them! She believes it’s
a matter of retraining ourselves to change our habits.
Carol-Anne is supporting our plan to set up
a collection point for soft plastics in the Village. She’s already discussed
the matter with SuperValue Manager Andrew Giarn, and raised her other idea for a collection point for small
used batteries, which she remembers seeing in her travels in Europe in the
1970s.
The Council-supplied bins on the main street
are another focus for Carol-Anne’s attention. She would like to see these replaced
with bins that separate waste into recyclables, food waste and landfill, and
has put this idea to Council. “I think this action would show leadership from
Council and provide good modelling for our residents on how to sort their
rubbish at home,” she said.
Carol-Anne’s enthusiasm for and commitment
to this project stem from her belief that “we are caretakers of the Earth for
the generations to come”. She believes we have a responsibility to look after
our planet and feels that we haven’t done a very good job of this. “Globally we
are not doing well; changes to the environment and waste accumulation are
horrendous.” Carol-Anne believes there is much more we can do and wonders why
we aren’t farther along with our efforts. She is pleased, however, to be able
to play a small part. “If we each do our
bit, we all win.”
According to Carol-Anne, increased awareness
is the most significant change resulting from our WasteWise initiative to date.
“Prior to this project, many people were blindly going along without thought
for the cost to the environment or to their businesses.” Her vision is for Mangere
Bridge to become a trailblazing WasteWise community.
Frances Hancock, co-founder of the Friends
Group had this to say about Carol-Anne’s contribution. “Through Carol-Anne’s
leadership, the Business Association has become a strategic partner in our
local Wastewise initiative. It’s fantastic to work alongside someone as
passionate and as aware as Carol-Anne, knowing she has the support of her
Board. Carol-Anne is not only a wastewise champion and village manager, but
also a community leader whose many contributions have earned respect among the
people who live or work here. She is reliable and trustworthy, goes the extra
mile every time, and makes a significant difference in our community.”
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