275 Times November 2017

Old School
275 PROJECT:
COMPOST
SOLUTIONS
By Justine Skilling
Talking Rubbish, ME Family Services
Is food waste filling
up your red bin?
Residents of the Naylors Drive cul-desac
in Māngere are creating a solution
to this problem for themselves – in
collaboration with the Old School
Community Gardens in Kirkbride Rd.
Local resident Toni Helleur (coordinator
of Māngere Neighbourhood
Support) is leading the Old
School 275 Project, which aims to
establish a bokashi composting
bin and a small household-waste
drop-off depot at the gardens.
Neighbours helping neighbours
Toni came up with the idea after
connecting with Talking Rubbish
(ME Family Services) last year, and
finding synergies with her plan to
start a Neighbourhood Support
group for residents in her area. She
was also keen to encourage her
neighbours to “visit the amazing
facility of the Old School Gardens that
was literally right next door to us.”
“When I heard about the new red
bin roll-out and what actually
happens to our waste, I needed
to let as many people know about
this as possible,” says Toni.
Community workshops
With funding from Auckland
Council’s Waste Minimisation and
Innovation Fund, and support from
Talking Rubbish and other groups,
Toni organised a series of wasteminimisation
workshops for the
Toni Helleur: helping her neighbours deal with food waste
Naylors Drive community, and helped
to create the ‘Love Māngere’ event
at the Cook Island Development
Agency (CIDANZ) in August.
The event provided a fun way for
locals to learn about composting,
recycling, gardening and biking
– as well as an opportunity to
sample locally made products.
Bokashi bucket challenge
Next up is a series of composting
and bokashi workshops from The
Compost Collective, followed by
some one-on-one support for 20
Naylors Drive families who want to
start bokashi systems at home.
“Bokashi is a great way to deal with
food waste for homes that don’t
have big backyard gardens,” says
Toni. “By connecting residents with
the Old School Gardens, the project
will enable people to get rid of the
contents of their bokashi bucket
once it’s full and ready to go.”
Positive changes are already being
seen. “We’ve had lots of great
feedback from people attending the
workshops. Now that we have our
red bins, only five out of 200 homes
on our street are needing extra
help, which is fantastic!” she says.
“The awareness of waste disposal
has increased, and the desire from
the community to have their own
gardens shows that a new (but
old!) trend is starting in Māngere.”
Finding answers
in our own backyards
Toni encourages people from
other areas of Māngere to look for
solutions to the challenges they’re
facing with rubbish by “connecting
with neighbours and talking more,
as you’ll find everything you
need is right here in Māngere.”
Her hope is that more of us will
“visit a local community garden,
start gardening, and continue to
think about where our rubbish
ends up at the end of the day.”
The next FREE composting
workshop is on 16 Nov, 6–8pm at
Old School Hall on Kirkbride Rd.
To register, visit:
www.compostcollective.org.nz
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