It was great to be back at Waitangi to help with the rubbish / composting / recycling.
Ecosolutions (who are organisational members of Tai Tokerau Timebank) do a fantastic job of managing the whole rubbish collection with a willing team of volunteers, many of whom are Timebank members.
I was lucky to be working at my favourite station down by the water and the waka under the shade of a pōhutakawa. It was my 5th time and as a Timebank member I earned 4 timecredits!
Our ‘job’ as Rubbish Ambassadors goes beyond sorting the waste to educating the public when they come to deposit their ‘rubbish’ at one of the rubbish / composting / recycling stations. There’s still a long way to go with awareness raising, but we see improvements each year.
It’s a privilege to be on the Treaty Grounds during the event and to leave them rubbish-free. Each year the amount of actual rubbish that goes to landfill decreases and the amount of compostables increases! It’s incredibly satisfying to know that we can directly contribute to waste minimization at such a huge event.
Janey Pares Edney
If you volunteered with the Ecosolutions team at Waitangi on Waitangi Day don't forget to log your hours too! Ecosolutions are an organisational member of Tai Tokerau Timebank. If you sign up as a Timebank member after having volunteered you can claim your timecredits retrospectively, so it's not too late...