Soft Plastics Collection Point

This month has seen Friends of the Farm members Meredith and Sharryn bringing a long planned WasteWise initiative to fruition, with the creation of a soft plastics collection point in Mangere Bridge.  Having sourced a collection bag from Enviroreel and a frame from Steve Rickerby (We Compost) earlier in the year, the problem of finding a suitable place to locate it was solved with the help of recent Friends of the Farm recruits Dawn and Denise of Oddbits, a local crafty upcycling operation with a stall at the Mangere Bridge Village Market. 

Not only did Dawn and Denise offer to keep the bag at their stall permanently, they also made a connection with fellow stallholders Rematerialise and arranged for the contents to be taken away by them and used as raw material for their own durable upcycled bags.  Just goes to show what can happen when we put our heads, contacts and skills together and work towards a common goal!  Rematerialise will deliver any surplus soft plastics to Enviroreel, a Penrose company that recycles these into garden edging and cable reels.

To start the ball rolling and to ensure that people were educated about what could be recycled through the collection bag, Meredith and Sharryn created signage and a display, as well as attending the first three market days to engage with passers-by.  Prior to the first market, an email was sent through our WasteWise email tree and other community networks letting people know about the new collection point.

Sharryn reported that over the three days a total of 65 people approached the stall to discuss the new collection point, mostly curious market-goers rather than prior contacts.  Some of these people returned to drop off their soft plastics, and the bins were overflowing on all three days, despite the inclement weather!  A keen community supporter, Natasha, baked lovely loaves for our team to enjoy while hosting the collection point.

Our hope is that this initiative will raise awareness of the problems plastic bags create in our environment and encourage people to get into the habit of dropping off soft plastics as part of a regular visit to the Sunday market. An article will be going into next month’s Community Newsletter and the new collection point will also be advertised through upcoming community WasteWise workshops.

The Friends of the Farm WasteWise team are thrilled to be able to offer this service to our community and extremely grateful for the generosity and enthusiasm of everyone who has been involved in making it happen.  So keep those soft plastics coming in!       

Local Business Association leads the way

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.” 

Creating a community volunteer network

Mangere Bridge is blessed with incredible community leaders and workers, many of whom serve on a voluntary basis.  Our WasteWise project has uncovered diverse talent in the community and shown us just how much goodwill there is towards our goal of becoming a more ‘WasteWise, caring community’, where people look out for each other and pitch in to lend a hand when they are able. One of the goals of our project is to create a community volunteer network of ‘WasteWise champions’ and we’ve slowly seen this come to fruition as the different stages of our project have unfolded.

Drawing initially on our Friends of the Farm and Foreshore database, we’ve requested and encouraged volunteer support for the various events we’ve been involved in.  People have been willing to participate in letterbox drops (Food and Wine Festival/Sweet Talks), supervise bin stations (Mangere Bridge School car boot sale, Waterlea Festival, Food and Wine Festival) and assist with event activities (Farm Day, Goodbye Godwits, Sweet Talks). Others have helped with specialised tasks (Steve Rickerby of We Compost has removed compostable waste from events, Ross Allan of Paboom! Marketing has donated graphic design expertise to create a zero waste poster).

Prior to the recent Food and Wine Festival, we carried out a flyer drop to 2500 Mangere Bridge households sponsored by our local Harcourts branch.  Ten new volunteers supported that effort, including two retired residents who did more than their fair share, and twelve year old twins, Jarrad and Thomas Harris-Green, who are proud members of the Mangere Bridge community and great soccer players! 

Jarrad and Thomas commented afterwards that it was “fun and good exercise” delivering the flyers.  Their mum Sarah said she felt very good about their involvement and was proud that they hadn’t hesitated in agreeing to deliver the flyers when asked. She wanted to instill in them a sense of community and hopes volunteering experiences such as this will stay with them through their lives. 

At the Festival itself, six new waste champions emerged to assist with bin supervision.  One of these was James Russell, editor of ‘Element’ the sustainable business and lifestyle magazine printed with the Herald.  “Waste is an issue I’m really interested in, and it’s great to see people taking the initiative to reduce it in their communities,” he said, when asked about his involvement with the WasteWise team at the Festival. James is a Mangere Bridge local and feels “it makes sense to get involved”. He will be a wonderful addition to our local leadership group.

In some way or other, over 30 volunteers have now supported WasteWise events and the number is growing.  We want to increase and formalise the list of people who would be willing to provide a voluntary commitment of up to two or three hours at a time for:

-          Community working bees

-          Community clean ups

-          WasteWise projects

-          Letterbox drops

-      Other miscellaneous activities

Each time we approach a volunteer on our list, we give them the opportunity to say no, without having to make an excuse. Often people can choose how they contribute, as we need help in different ways. We’d love to hear from you, if you’re willing to be approached from time to time to help contribute to building a WasteWise, caring community. For our younger residents keen to clock up some community service hours, we’ll also provide a certificate they can take to school.

Contact:

Frances Hancock Ph 0210722696

justineskilling@gmail.com

Tea and Topics: Mangere Bridge Library 28 May 2014

By Justine Skilling – Friends storywriter

Thanks to the librarians at the Mangere Bridge Library, I had an opportunity to share the Mangere Bridge WasteWise message with around 20 people at the monthly ‘Tea and Topics’ last week. Our waste timeline and a selection of books on composting, zero waste living, gardening and upcycled crafts were on display for the month prior to the talk, generating interest among library-goers.

I introduced our Friends group, highlighting our primary vision to link local families with our natural resources, in particular the Farm and harbour foreshore area.  I described some of the family fun activities we hosted prior to beginning our adventures with waste, including a farm treasure hunt, midwinter moonlight lantern walk and assistance with Goodbye Godwits events.

When the conversation turned to “waste”, I talked about our group’s passion for creating a “WasteWise, caring community”. We educate people on how to go about reducing the rubbish we produce in our households, schools, organisations and businesses.  I reviewed our group’s role in waste reduction education and practice so far, including supervising bin stations at community events and supporting efforts led by Carol-Anne Armitage to reduce food waste in our local cafes.

Many asked questions and expressed concerns about the Council’s plan to make changes to our kerbside rubbish collection in 2015. Fortunately, the Library has arranged for a Council representative to address the issue at a Tea and Topics later in the year.

I asked the group for their ideas on what makes Mangere Bridge a “WasteWise, caring community” and how we can enhance this vision.  People offered practical and inspiring suggestions, including hanging a banner over our main street that declares our vision, having easily accessible information about what to do with e-waste and batteries, and developing a community recycling facility.  People were very keen to have a collection point for soft plastics in the village.

The morning generated considerable discussion and energy on the topic of waste in our community.  Participant Alf McMinn emailed after the event to say that he “really learned a lot. In fact it also made me feel a tad guilty. May need to change some habits-of-a-lifetime”.  

Librarian and ‘Tea and Topics’ organiser, Ann Hancock, reported that the morning “triggered awareness” about rubbish and recycling and “got people’s brains ticking over”.  It was wonderful to see such a diverse group of people, both locals and visitors, utilising the opportunity provided by our library for lively discussion and debate about relevant and important issues such as this one. The librarians were incredibly welcoming and supportive, and it was a pleasure to be a part of what they’re doing in our community. In Mangere Bridge our library is a community hub and our librarians are supportive of initiatives that, like ours, benefit our children, families, and environment.