Waste Not

Image: National Environment Agency Annual Report 2006/2007

We’ve come a long way since the early days of recycling on the North Shore. Back in the 1960s and 70s, about the only thing we could officially recycle was aluminium milkbottle tops. These went in with the dinner dishes before being added to a slowly growing bagful which was eventually dropped off at the School for the Blind in Manurewa. They received a fee from Tiwai Point aluminium smelter for sending them on there.

North Shore City Council has a waste collection system consisting of a blue wheelie bin for all recyclable plastics, glass, aluminium and tin, prepaid rubbish bags for general waste, and an annual inorganic rubbish collection. It is preferable to rinse items for recycling before placing them in the wheelie bin. Recyclables are collected every two weeks, on the same day as your regular collection. Check out the 2009-10 recycling calendar. You can find out what day your rubbish will be collected by logging on to the North Shore City Council website or calling them on 486 8600. Sort it! is a game for your children to play online in which they can test their knowledge of recycling. Outside of this system, you can personally dispose of household waste by taking it to one of two local transfer stations (4 Home Place,Mairangi Bay 478 9888 and 4 Lake Road, Devonport 445 6914). Phone them for information on opening times and costs.

Recycling

Another avenue for disposing of unwanted goods is the Resource Centre at 100 Wairau Road, behind HireQuip. They take goods that are suitable resources for arts and crafts in schools, kindergartens and other community groups. There are also a few internet based organisations for donating useable items such as Freecycle.org or DonateNZ.com. They have great websites, too!

Bokashi

Composting your kitchen waste reduces the demand on landfill and the release of methane gas that such waste gives off. It produces valuable nutrition for your garden, so you won’t need to purchase fertilisers. If you don’t have the space or inclination for composting, alternative ways of dealing with kitchen waste are through a worm farm or a bokashi system. If you’re at all squeamish about creepy crawlies, I recommend bokashi, a Japanese system in which food scraps are fermented. Once the “compost” has been buried in the garden, it breaks down very quickly. The system also produces a concentrated liquid which can be used to fertilise your plants. Find out more on bokashi, including where to buy the bins and “zing”.

Composting

Making compost is a bit more involved and there are a number of schools of thought on how to produce the best recipe. Most agree that a variety of layers of material including green waste, a source of carbon such as dried leaves and woody bits, and some kind of animal manure will make a rich, well-balanced compost which is highly nutritious for your vegetable and flower gardens. When we had a big garden, we would make compost a couple of times a year, and we kept a worm farm.

Worm Farming

Having a worm farm is more fun than it sounds, especially if you have young children in the house. You can make your own “farm” from old tyres or other suitable containers that can be drained. See the instructions on the Zero Waste website. But there are a number of options on the market for ready made worm farms which can be purchased from Mitre 10, Kings Plant Barn, Palmers Browns Bay and The Warehouse. You will need to purchase a starter pack of tiger worms (try Worms r Us 292 7759) and you can begin feeding them, a little at a time, with your kitchen waste, cardboard and paper. In return, they will produce a dark, rich “soil” which can be added to your garden to produce robust and healthy plants. A worm “tea” is another bi-product which can be diluted and sprayed on your plants to inoculate them from a number of diseases and pests. Roses do particularly well when sprayed with this wonder product.

What We Do

As much as possible, we avoid purchasing products that are over-packaged. We like to shop at the Takapuna Market on Sunday mornings where fresh fruit and vegetables are largely unpackaged. Cloth shopping bags are versatile and easy to throw in the washing machine. Shopping at the market is also about supporting local and small producers and having the pick of the freshest produce. The atmosphere is lots of fun, too! It can be worthwhile to contact the suppliers of products you purchase if you feel their packaging is excessive or unnecessary. Public pressure can make a big difference to the behaviour of even international manufacturers, as the about-face by Cadbury on the use of palm oil has shown.