Hamilton City Council's Waste Minimisation Educator, Belinda Goodwin, is passionate about learning and sharing knowledge about waste reduction. Photo / Hamilton City Council
Hamilton City Council's Waste Minimisation Educator, Belinda Goodwin, is passionate about learning and sharing knowledge about waste reduction. Photo / Hamilton City Council
Even if you are a careful and dedicated recycler, there is still much you can do to reduce your single-use plastic and be a part of the solution to plastic pollution.
Right now it is Plastic Free July, the global movement that helps millions of people cut down on plastic they use only once before throwing it in the rubbish or recycling. It may be packaging for food and toys or disposable takeaway cups and containers.
Hamilton City Council is offering some great opportunities to help you reduce your single-use plastic.
Council’s Sustainable Resource Recovery Unit Director Tania Hermann said the council is introducing zero waste champions, who will be doing their part to fight the landfill, as well as offering Zero Waste for Everyday People - a free online course by Mainstream Green.
Nicola Turner from Mainstream Green is offering this course for free to Hamilton residents,” said Hermann.
Switching to reusable cups and containers means there will be much less in your rubbish and recycling bins. Photo / Mainstream Green
The five-week course has limited spaces and it’s first in, first served. It starts on July 20 with a live Q and A and participants can complete it at their own pace. The content covers the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of waste, as well as lots of easy ways to reduce waste at home. Book your space or meet the champions.
“As a council, we are passionate about reducing waste, but we can be doing so much more,” said Hermann. “Close to 300 million disposable coffee cups go to landfill each year in New Zealand. The best and easiest way we can reduce this is by switching to reusable cups and containers.”
There’s nothing like seeing the scale of Hamilton’s recycling for yourself, to really understand the impact we have on the planet.
You can see it by attending a sustainability session at the Te Rapa-based Enviro NZ Education Room. The room overlooks the Materials Recovery Facility where Hamilton’s recycling is sorted and separated before being sent away to be recycled around the country.
The sessions are organised by the council’s Waste Minimisation Educator, Belinda Goodwin, who teaches how to recycle right and reduce waste in landfill.
At the EnviroWaste recycling centre in Te Rapa people can see the city's mixed recycling being sorted. Photo / Danielle Zollickhofer
“You get a close-up view of the sheer volume of recycling created by Hamiltonians as well as an understanding of the successes we have had with recycling and issues created when we don’t recycle correctly,” said Goodwin.
“You can see the staff sorting through all the recycling, from our yellow-lidded bins, by hand. They remove a lot of non-recyclables such as food scraps, medical waste, used nappies and other items that don’t belong in recycling bins.”
Goodwin tailors each session to her audience, whether that’s pre-schoolers, students or teachers wanting to use the room as a learning resource or organisations looking to implement more sustainable practices.
Goodwin also takes her sessions on the road and visits schools, retirement villages and organisations around Hamilton.
Goodwin said a common misunderstanding about waste reduction is it’s hard, too complicated or time-consuming.
“Part of my sessions talk about starting small. You can adopt something simple like washing your recycling or switching to a reusable cup or container for takeaways. From there, you can make more changes as you feel comfortable.
By the end of a session, most people have pledged to make one change.
Sessions at the Enviro NZ Education Room are available through booking only and can cater for up to 30 people at a time. Book at fightthelandfill.co.nz.
