Sharing the Message about the Mangere Bridge Household Waste Pilot

Our Friends of the Farm team have been active recently with presentations to our local Probus  Group and a Pop Up Stall in the Village Market in early March. The purpose of this activity is to sign up new households for the Mangere Bridge Household Waste Pilot. The Pilot educates households on how to reduce their waste and collect data on their kerbside rubbish each week for eight weeks.

Carol-Anne Armitage and Jane Gravestock were invited to speak at the Fellowship (Probus) NZ’s Annual General Meeting on Friday 1 April at the Bowling Club. Fellowship New Zealand, formerly known as Probus, is a welcoming social organisation for people living in New Zealand who are retired, semi-retired or soon-to-retire. 

Carol-Anne shared a presentation on the vision and activities of Friends of the Farm from its annual community conversation called Sweet Talks, Seaweek Clean Up- Manukau Harbour, Family Fun Events and Fruit Preserving Sessions to planting a Community Orchard and hosting an annual Community Picnic. Probus members were very receptive to the Friends of the Farm and shared their views on what they value about living in Mangere Bridge. They highlighted the Walking Group, the uniquely caring and friendly community, and as one member put it “Simply, it is home.” They were also forthcoming with their concerns about parking in the village shops, the need for more disability carparks and to reduce speeding on the roads, and burglaries.

Jane spoke to the Probus group about the Mangere Bridge Household Wastewise Pilot. She explained that the project aims to assist people to reduce their waste for two key reasons; to care for our local environment and to ensure rubbish is put into the correct waste streams, that is, recycling, compost, soft plastics and landfill. Household waste reduction will be particularly important when Auckland Council begin to charge ratepayers per lift of the landfill bin, possibly in a couple of years.

“It was a bit like preaching to the converted as many of the Probus members have had a lifetime of economising and minimising waste,” said Jane after the session. However they were keen to hear about recycling their soft plastics at Pak N Save, Countdown, New World and the Warehouse. “Every soft plastic that can be crumpled or crushed in your hand can be recycled” Jane advised.

The Household Pilot was also the focus of the Pop-up Stall at the Village Market in early March. Caroline Walmsley and Jane Gravestock spent the morning talking to locals about rubbish and how to manage it. Both the Popup Stall and the Probus workshop created an opportunity for Friends of the Farm to collect names for the Household Waste Pilot. Jane told the Probus members she couldn’t go back to her Friends of the Farm colleagues “without three signed up Households!”

Households interested in taking part in this easy, rewarding project should contact Friends of the Farm on friends@fof.nz  or phone Frances Hancock: 0210722696.

Written by Jane Gravestock