Thursday 2 August 2018
It's a wrap - waste-reduction workshops hit Ruapehu
Plastic-Free July got off to a great start in the Ruapehu District with workshops showing people how to make their own beeswax wraps, and how to make their own yoghurt from scratch.
Waste Minimisation Educator Emily Jasmine has run workshops in National Park, Ohakune, Waiouru and Taumarunui.
We all had a great time at the workshops, Emily says. Everyone went home with a set of beeswax wraps, which make a great plastic-free replacement for clingfilm for wrapping food. We even had a few people bring along wraps they already had, and rewaxed them.
Beeswax wraps are made of cotton fabric covered in beeswax. They are flexible and can be used to wrap food leftovers, sandwiches or almost anything that needs a cover. They are also washable and, as the workshops demonstrated, can be rewaxed if they start to wear out.
Emily also showed participants how to make their own yoghurt from scratch.
We also picked up lots of ideas from participants about other topics we could run workshops on, like making your own shampoo, Emily says.
Emily is working on other ideas for waste-beating workshops, including Love Food Hate Waste workshops, which will have great ideas to help people make the most of their grocery bill and cut down on the amount of food they throw out at home.
At the moment, on average, every Ruapehu resident produces an average of 340 kilograms of waste a year. This puts pressure on landfill, and with the current landfill reaching the end of its life, that's a big challenge. Council hopes to reduce the amount of waste produced in the district by about half in the next few years to reduce the pressure on rates.
Also in Plastic Free July, Sam Gray ran a series of workshops at the Powderkeg in Ohakune. These workshops are an opportunity to share ideas about waste minimisation, ask questions about recycling systems, and discuss how the Plastic-Free July Challenge is going.
For those who couldn't get to the beeswax wrap workshops, the instructions for how to make them, and how to make yoghurt, are available on the Ruapehu District Council website. https://www.ruapehudc.govt.nz/our-services/waste-m...
For more information contact:
Emily Jasmine, Waste Minimisation Educator
[email protected]
07 895 8188 or 06 385 8364
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