The Mind Your Waste project began in October 2005. Originally called "What's Up With Waste?", the project aimed to find solutions to rubbish illegally dumped in the Porirua area. It led to the creation of a Waste Education Strategy for Porirua City Council (PCC) written by Lu White and Sarah Pritchett, the project co-ordinators. This project is delivering waste education to diverse cultural groups in the Porirua area.
Illegal Waste Dumping
The initial aim of this project was to address illegal waste dumping which PCC had identified as a major problem in East Porirua. Most illegal dumping of rubbish had been occuring at the community recycling centres run by PCC. However a decision made to close them down just prior to the beginning of the project led to a broadening of the project aims. The aim of the project therefore changed to understanding why people in Porirua did not use the PCC waste services or used them incorrectly, what was happening to people's rubbish now that the recycling centres had closed and what could be done about the problem of illegal dumping.
Working with the Community
Lu and Sarah created a range of activities aimed at waste reduction and working out community based solutions to the waste problem including:
• Developing a waste education programme for Corinna school in Waitangirua. With the help of Partners Porirua and Community Renewal, a two day programme was developed. It aimed to inform the children about the problem of rubbish and illegal dumping and explain how people can reduce the amount of rubbish they produce through recycling and composting etc. The children were shown that if their families reduced the amount of waste sent to landfill (or illegally dumped) then they will save themselves money as well as helping out the local environment. Both children and teachers gave positive responses and Lu and Sarah were invited back to run more activities in the future.
• Waste audits were conducted with several families to help them minimise the waste their household produces and save money on council rubbish bags. Lu and Sarah went through each family's waste with them and identified what could be recycled, reused, or composted instead of going in a rubbish bag. They then helped set up systems for recycling and composting. One family commented that they wished they had been shown how to recycle and compost ages ago. Another family with young children, has since gone from three bags of rubbish being put out each week to one.
• Installing a recycling system at the Cannons Creek Creekfest in March to raise the profile of recycling at a public event. Advice about recycling and composting was offered and a 'How to make a Worm Farm' workshop was run. The worm farm was made out of recovered materials (which can then be used to help reduce household waste being thrown away). Worm farms produce rich compost as well as worm juice, which is very nutritious for plants.
Waste Education Strategy
From these events a Waste Education Strategy (WES) for Porirua City Council was developed that can be developed by the council city-wide and could be adopted by other councils. The strategy has been requested by a number of people and organisations. It has also led to Lu and Sarah being invited to present papers at two conferences: The Environmental Institute of Australia and New Zealand (Adelaide) and Wasteminz (Christchurch).
Challenges
One of the first challenges Lu and Sarah faced was trying to work out how to make links with the community and get people to come along to the focus groups. They got around this problem by going to public spaces like markets and libraries instead of expecting the community to come to forums. It took time to build links with the community but as the project progressed the relationship with the community strengthened. Therefore as more people knew and trusted who they were, the more successful Lu and Sarah were in overcoming the challenges described.
Relationships/Partnerships
Key relationships were with the Community Renewal Team (Housing New Zealand) and Eastern Porirua Ratepayers Association, as well as several other community organisations which enabled Lu and Sarah to establish important links with the community. Without these key relationships they would have had more of an outsider status and would not have been able to make as much progress as they did in such a short amount of time.
The What's Up With Waste project was partnered by Porirua City Council and funded by the Ministry of Environment through the Sustainable Management Fund.
