The councillor who generates just two bags of rubbish a year
As Dunedin councillors debate the pros and cons of a new kerbside recycling scheme, one councillor has revealed they barely generate any waste at all.
Dunedin residents currently have a large yellow-lidded wheelie bin for recyclables and a blue crate for glass. They can buy black plastic bags for general household waste.
The 45-litre and 60-litre bags will be consigned to the scrap heap though as the council’s preferred option is to add a general waste bin to be collected fortnightly and a food waste bin to be collected weekly.
The move would cost ratepayers between $270 and $310 a year.
The cost would increase further if a household opted for the addition of a fortnightly garden waste bin.
At a meeting discussing the council’s 10-year plan on Tuesday, Cr Steve Walker said the preferred option was the closest match to the city's waste management goals, and would help wrest back control of a system that had become eroded by private contractors.
The option was also supported by the majority of residents, he noted.
The food waste option could serve as a “wake-up call” for residents. Household habits may change when people saw their waste “looking at you in the face”.
Walker said he regularly bored people by saying he and his wife only put out two black bags per year, and he had no plan to stop talking about reducing waste.
That led to a debate over waste minimisation, including from Cr Rachel Elder who noted the dress she was wearing was second-hand.
“We have to pull all the levers to change what is happening in this world.”
Cr Carmen Houlahan supported the change, but said if Walker had children his rubbish “would increase a lot”.
She noted a lot of rubbish was generated from children’s lunches, including uneaten lunches.
“The real world is people like me who have kids and run around and fill up bins with too much rubbish.”
Cr Sophie Barker said children could be offered a banana instead of a purchased item wrapped in plastic, as it was a “self-wrapped morning tea”.
Mayor Aaron Hawkins said it was an “exciting opportunity” to change the city’s kerbside collection system.
He was pleased plastic bags would no longer be used for household waste, saying they were not only harmful to the environment but also posed a danger to contractors.
The council would now work with interested parties on the design of the scheme, but would still consider alternative collection options for those who lived in high density residential areas.
⚠️ 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 ❤️
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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61.4% Summer
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37% Winter
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1.7% Other - I'll share below
Would you like a free copy of our February 2025 issue?
Kia ora neighbours. We give away free copies to readers whose recipes are used in our magazine. We're still on the hunt for tomato recipes, so send your family's favourite way to use up your homegrown harvest, to: mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz. If we use it in the mag, you will receive a free copy of the mag
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