WasteBusters Trust Canterbury

We do not weave the web of life; we are merely a strand in it.

The earth does not belong to us, we belong to the Earth, and all things are connected like the blood of one family.

All things in life share the same breath.

The wind that gave our grandmother her first breath also received her last sigh.

Background

The concept of WasteBusters evolved in 1994 when Anita Coghill and Sheryl Stivens were invited to participate in community consultation with Ashburton District Council to develop a solid waste management strategy.

Both women shared a vision for the future of establishing and promoting waste diversion systems from the school children of the district up through the community.  They began working as volunteers, visiting the 28 schools in the district and developing a comprehensive waste minimisation programme.

By 1996 WasteBusters had developed a negotiated contractual agreement with the Ashburton District Council to deliver waste minimisation education to the community.

An action-packed schools programme, composting demonstrations, public speaking engagements, worm farming, Reuse/Waste Materials Exchange for local businesses, annual Winter Waste Fests and the setting up and coordinating of three rural recycling depots at Methven, Mt Somers and Willowby soon became part of WasteBusters’ environmental programme.

In 1997 the Selwyn District Council contracted WasteBusters Trust to extend their community Waste Minimisation Programme into the neighbouring Selwyn District.

Developments in 1999 included researching rural solutions to organic waste, particularly worm-driven waste management, and efficient ways of composting waste from businesses such as hotels, bakeries and even wool scours.  At this stage a 15-metre tunnel house was set up, housing thousands of very hungry tiger worms.  Visitors from all over New Zealand continue to visit the worm farm to see food and other organic waste being transformed into dense vermicast, with no smell and no flies.

Throughout 1999 and 2000 WasteBusters facilitated a series of workshops to promote the opportunities for rural communities to invest in resource recovery.  Councilors, council staff and waste practitioners from throughout New Zealand traveled to Ashburton to hear international keynote speakers share the latest technological solutions for adding value and job potential to materials traditionally landfilled.  During this time five additional WasteBusters groups were initiated at Wanaka, Central Otago, Taieri, Queenstown and Southland.

In 2001 Zero Waste NZ funded a joint application by WasteBusters and the Ashburton District Council to establish an innovative education centre at Ashburton’s new Resource Recovery Park.  Walking into the centre through the bicycle wheel archway and following the wiggly tiger worm path to see tyre worm farms, compost displays, ground glass mulches, telephone book walls and the solar straw bale couch is only the beginning.  Many new features are being developed gradually through a series of environmental workshops incorporating reused, recycled materials.

Workshop participants learn how to make mosaics; adobe plaster using shredded paper, crushed glass mulching and design, tyre retaining walls, papermaking, waste wood furniture and more.

Local schools, community groups and other members of the public enjoy regular visits to the centre, as do representatives from other councils and visiting waste practitioners.  Already the first Japanese tourist bus has been sighted over the road with passengers out taking photos.

Such creativity is an essential ingredient for us to make that mind shift in our communities ‘from rubbish to resource’.

WasteBusters’ innovative programme continues to bring national acclaim to the Ashburton District Council.  The programme extends throughout the district, inspiring participants to reduce and reuse; imparting the skills to compost and worm farm; encouraging recycling as a third step only after the first two steps (reduce and reuse) have been taken.

In 2002 WasteBusters Trust Canterbury has grown rapidly and now employs 21 people.  New contracts include processing and marketing kerbside collections and operating the Recycling Depots at Ashburton, Methven, Willowby and Mt Somers.

Currently over 150 tonnes of recycled materials are sent to markets monthly.

Community Employment Group have supported WasteBusters in becoming a Community Employment Organisation and with $60,000 investment over the past 15 months over $330,000 has been returned to the local community in wages, transport and goods bought locally, and GST and PAYE paid back to Government amounts to over $67,000.

The social benefits of this community owned resource recovery operation are immense and ongoing.

The support from local businesses is not only essential for cost effectiveness, especially transport of materials, but makes this a model for true sustainable community development.

For the Zero Waste journey to be successful we need everyone equipped with the knowledge and understanding to take positive action in their daily lives to make a difference and to become a WasteBuster and realize that every little bit counts.  It’s a TEAM effort, and together everyone achieves more!

Summary

Waste – careless or thriftless procedure by which something is lost or spoiled (1908 Dictionary)

For all other species the discards from one creature became the resource of another.  We humans are the only creatures on this earth who create ‘waste’ as such. The thriftiness of our ancestors has very quickly been reversed in 2 to 3 generations, with an incredible drive to clean up our own backyards while fouling up the beautiful planet on which we live.

At least 50 percent of waste is organic.  When organic waste is mixed up with batteries, steel cans and other materials in a landfill it begins to putrefy and produces poisonous liquid which leaches into groundwater and soil and gives up to 300 years of contamination.  That is why the food scraps thrown into rubbish bins on a daily basis are the primary contaminant in landfills.

Points for Discussion

·        What is the waste stream comprised of?

·        How can we utilize these community resources more efficiently?

·        What are the options for eliminating organic waste from the waste stream?

·        How will we exchange waste management for resource recovery?

·        Is Zero Waste the journey that will lead us to a better destination?

·        What is the job potential of zero waste?

·        How can we utilize resource recovery in rural communities for sustainable community development?

Contact: 

WasteBusters Trust Canterbury

PO Box 323

Ashburton

 Ph (03) 308 9998  Fax (03) 308 9989

Email:

Website: www.wastebusters.orcon.net.nz