Tararua residents learn to reduce household waste

Rose Bertram has visited playgroups showing them how to create a bokashi system.

Many in the world are beginning to accept that it is time to tackle the waste problem.

This desire to decrease the amount of rubbish that goes into landfills is the motivation behind workshops being delivered by Tararua REAP.

Over the next few years Tararua REAP will be providing a series of workshops that aim to inspire, educate, and empower people to make some small environmentally friendly choices in their day-day life.

The upcoming Waste Minimisation Workshops include "How to make the most of your food", "Make your own cleaning products" and "Worm farms, composting and bokashi systems".

Tararua REAP General Manager Claire Chapman said thanks to the collaborative relationship with the Tararua District Council, REAP had been tasked to deliver waste-minimisation education and workshops.

"The Tararua REAP team is excited at the opportunity to be part of such an important initiative."

In June Tararua REAP delivered Waste Free Living Workshops in Pahiatua and Dannevirke with Kate Meads and Co. well known for her workshops and talks on waste-free living.

Chapman said they were trying to increase people's motivation and desire to reduce waste, using things such as the Green Hub, which is a community group for people to come together and consider ways to make a difference.

The group will have the support of REAP and the District Council to action, sustainable, effective community projects.

Early Childhood Education Co-ordinator Rose Bertram had been visiting playgroups teaching and helping the children and their families make a new style bokashi system.

"The concept was invented by a council staff member and it's a cross between a bokashi system and a worm farm. Our focus this term is on composting and earthworms."

Bertram explained to the children the importance of worms and the food that they like, then she would get a black bin and drill holes in it before digging it deep down so the bin was at least halfway into the ground.

The children would go and find food for the worms and the process starts.

With this worm-assisted bokashi system, almost any food scraps could be put in, such as corn husks and eggshells.

The scraps would then be sprinkled with an activating product, like Compost Zing.

"The worms will find the holes into the bin once the food has been in there for a while and has started to decompose.

"The worms help process and break down the food. Reducing the need to regularly empty the system," Bertram explained.

For the attendees of the "How to make the most of your food" workshop they might not have too much food for the worms as the focus of the workshop is to reduce food waste by being more thoughtful of food preparation and consumption.

Worksop tutor Michelle Whale plans to share her tips and tricks in the kitchen to help people utilise their groceries in more ways than one.

This was especially important if one doesn't have a composting system because if you're minimising waste in the kitchen, then less goes into landfill.

Whale would show participants how to use leftovers in different ways, like making their own pizza base and adding the leftovers.

There were many ways to minimise waste and another way was to reduce plastic use.

The "Make your own cleaning products" workshop would teach people how to make their own cleaning solutions, reducing the amount of plastic bottles they needed to buy.

Thanks to support from the council, anyone who attended the "worm farms, composting and bokashi systems" workshop would receive a Mitre 10 voucher to help towards buying a composting system.

To register for a workshop or for more information and dates, contact Tararua REAP on 06 374 6565 or email: office@tararuareap.co.nz.

"If we all make little steps personally then together we will make an impact and make positive changes for our environment," Chapman said.