Chip Packet Project and Duke of Edinburgh’s Hillary Award team up to turn waste into survival sheets.
Media Release
27th January 2022
New homeless support initiative Chip Packet Project NZ (CPPNZ) has teamed up with Duke of Edinburgh’s Hillary Award to get kiwi rangatahi turning discarded chip and biscuit packets into thermal survival sheets, pillows and other vital items for those in need.
CPPNZ launched in September 2021, following a similar idea which began in the UK in 2019. National Coordinator Terrena Griffiths says the partnership will provide momentum to the initiative, by incentivising an army of young people to volunteer their time and effort gathering and processing foil packets typically used for chips, biscuits and crackers.
“It takes just 2 minutes on average to eat a packet of chips, but the foil from that chip packet can take 80 years to decompose in landfill.
“It’s actually fairly easy to clean, dry and fuse packets together to create all sorts of useful items like survival sheets, pillows, ground rolls and other essential items for those without a place to sleep.
“What Chip Packet Project NZ does is coordinate the collection of old packets, creation of sheets and partner with support services to get them to people in need.”
Items made from foil packages are already being trialed ‘in the field’ through the Auckland City Mission.
Duke of Edinburgh’s Hillary Award is a long-established community service scheme for 14 – 24 year olds, and helps connect the Chip Packet Project to willing volunteers. CPPNZ is proud to be recognised as the first accredited Award Assessor for the Duke of Edinburgh’s NZ’s new Environmental Kākāriki Journey Award.
“At a time when we are all so very aware of our planet’s plight and the environment and sustainability, turning empty foil packets into something useful reduces waste, provides comfort to those in need and diverts rubbish from landfill. For example, each survival sheet uses 44 foil chip packets - that's 3520 decomposing landfill years saved!”
Terrena Griffiths say, so far as they know, CPPNZ is the only organisation making these survival sheets in New Zealand.
About CPPNZ:
CPPNZ’s vision is to create momentum by establishing Fusion Groups in each New Zealand city making survival sheets, pillows, and torso mats for distribution to those in need through their local charities and community groups (all the while diverting rubbish from landfills).
The CPPNZ Facebook page reached 60,000 people in the initial 3 months of its operation.
Currently, there are four foil collection points in Auckland, one in Dunedin and one in Wellington.
Even the COVID lockdown in late-2021 has not been able to stop CPPNZ’s volunteers (called the CPPNZ Fusion Group) from being hard at work collecting, washing, and fusing foil. There are some great videos of this mahi in action on CPPNZ’s Facebook page @chippacketprojectnz.
Initially, CPPNZ is concentrating their efforts in Auckland and is exploring a partnership with the Auckland City Mission who are acknowledged as the experts in working with Auckland’s homeless. The Auckland City Mission is currently testing two survival sheets and a pillow ‘out in the field’.
For more information contact:
Terrena Griffiths – CPPNZ National Coordinator
Mobile: 022 027 0370
Email: chippacketprojectnz@gmail.com
Poll: Would you rather: Christmas in summer forever or winter forever?
Just a bit of a fun poll to get you thinking.
If you had to live out your Christmas days, would you prefer it was a summer Christmas or a winter Christmas?
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62.8% Summer
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35.8% Winter
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1.4% Other - I'll share below
What word sums up 2024, neighbours?
If 2020 was the year of lockdowns, banana bread, and WFH (work from home)....
In one word, how would you define 2024?
We're excited to see what you come up with!
⚠️ DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS. If you love them, don't leave them. ⚠️
It's a message we share time and time again, and this year, we're calling on you to help us spread that message further.
Did you know that calls to SPCA about dogs left inside hot cars made up a whopping 11% of all welfare calls last summer? This is a completely preventable issue, and one which is causing hundreds of dogs (often loved pets) to suffer.
Here are some quick facts to share with the dog owners in your life:
👉 The temperature inside a car can heat to over 50°C in less than 15 minutes.
👉 Parking in the shade and cracking windows does little to help on a warm day. Dogs rely on panting to keep cool, which they can't do in a hot car.
👉 This puts dogs at a high risk of heatstroke - a serious condition for dogs, with a mortality rate between 39%-50%.
👉 It is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act to leave a dog in a hot vehicle if they are showing signs of heat stress. You can be fined, and prosecuted.
SPCA has created downloadable resources to help you spread the message even further. Posters, a flyer, and a social media tile can be downloaded from our website here: www.spca.nz...
We encourage you to use these - and ask your local businesses to display the posters if they can. Flyers can be kept in your car and handed out as needed.
This is a community problem, and one we cannot solve alone. Help us to prevent more tragedies this summer by sharing this post.
On behalf of the animals - thank you ❤️
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