Opinion: Reducing our festive footprint

Margi Keys wants you to have a caring Christmas.

Some ideas on how to turn the season of waste and consumption into an environmentally-caring Christmas.

By Margi Keys

WHICH gifts are people giving that relate to an environmentally-friendly Christmas, I wonder.

Does anyone ever give gifts that keep on giving — such as a worm farm or compost bin? What about a plant?

How about a zero waste Christmas? Wine bottles and wrapping paper can be upcycled, so why not bring them to the Whanganui Environment Base (WhEB), the building behind the recycling area at the Whanganui Resource Recovery Centre in Maria Place, and they'll be put to good use — Moari Bailey needs 5000 wine bottles for the house she's building at Putiki.

Plenty of people have been making gifts and cards from materials that have been donated to the WhEB. A card-making workshop was held on Monday, with 20 children and 14 adults in attendance.

After the excitement of Christmas Day, materials like cardboard boxes, bubble wrap, and even polystyrene slabs can be upcycled at the Re-Use Academy (the RUA).

The WhEB will be closed on the statutory holidays and Sundays but you may find a volunteer working there between December 27 and 30.

Officially reopening on Wednesday, January 3, WhEBsters (volunteers who are on the premises between 10am and 4pm Monday to Friday and Saturday mornings) will be pleased to see you, especially if you bring empty icecream containers, vegetable and flower seedlings, tissue paper and 2017 calendars.

Meri Kirihimete!

Gifts of sustainability bring joy to the Earth

By Deirdra McMenamin
Sustainable Whanganui

IT'S that time of year again, so here are a few gentle suggestions to ease the environmental conscience.

Presentation is everything, so have you ever thought of wrapping Christmas presents in a beautiful scarf or piece of fabric as the Japanese do? Once opened it could be considered a second gift, returned to sender, or donated to the various cloth bag makers in town to help stem the flow of plastic bags.

Now if you already have packed and wrapped everything, well done — I aspire to be that organised one day. So please please consider flattening and folding the wrapping paper and decorations and bringing it with your recycling to the Whanganui Environment Base (WhEB) education rooms behind the Resource Recovery Centre.

What to give the business person who has everything? Ever thought of a bokoshi bucket? It's a counter-top recycling station that keeps small office kitchens sustainable and odour-free.

There is a slightly bigger one for bigger offices or WhEB also has state-of-the-art compost bins for those ready to commit to creating their own compost.

If you are still stumped for gifts, there are wheat pillows for muscle relief. For those who want something to do, we have ready-cut morsbags packs, as well as home preserving packs and jars for those wishing to bottle fruit, making jams or chutneys.