Plastic-free July focusing efforts on waste minimisation

Waste minimisation champions around the University have used the international Plastic Free July initiative to ramp up their efforts to reduce the waste they generate at home and work, and to encourage their peers to follow suit.

Catherine Cutler from retail operations (centre) at the sustainability-themed market day

The sustainability office’s engagement coordinator, Charlotte Blythe, has been working with the communications team to profile the champions and the ways they are reducing waste and the use of single-use plastics. 

“Plastic Free July has been a vehicle for highlighting the exciting ways in which individuals and groups within the University are applying waste reduction principles,” says Charlotte.

Staff are challenging the disposable culture in our society by refusing wasteful items, investing in reusable food and beverage containers, and creating their own alternatives to commercial products that use single use disposable packaging.

Dr Charlotte Blythe University of Auckland Sustainability Engagement Coordinator

Participants in Plastic Free July go into the draw to win a specially designed Metro Glass Cup, which is now stocked and sold through the Campus Store. The giveaway has attracted more than 30 champions to share a wide range of innovative ways to reduce waste. These include doing away with the need for disposable plastic cups, bottles and containers by using reusable glass containers to store food in the fridge; using re-usable lunch boxes, reusable beeswax treated cotton wraps for office and school lunches and snacks; using re-usable stainless steel or glass bottles for water; only buying milk in reusable bottles, and making your own yoghurt.

A number of entries focus on initiatives like composting or using bokashi bins so that food waste doesn’t have to be bagged and put in the rubbish; making homemade bread – more delicious, the smell is great and no plastic bags to dispose of, homemade milk kefir to replace store bought yoghurt in plastic containers, and turning coffee grounds into an exfoliating scrub. Other ideas include moving to stainless steel drinking straws or just avoiding them in the first place, making reusable baby wipes and using cloth nappies.

Equally exciting is the way many staff and students have organised wider events and initiatives that also have the benefit of reducing waste. Catherine Cutler, from Campus Life’s retail operations, organised a few University staff to volunteer at Everybody Eats, a weekly pop up in St Kevin’s Arcade that aims to “feed bellies not bins”. She also organised a sustainability-themed Market Day in the Quad featuring Boomerang Bags, Eco Store and Kiwi Reusables.

Thanks to Dinah Towle, the Business School café, The Deli, has been offering a $1 discount to anyone using a reusable cup in July, and members of the Academic Services Sustainability group have been educating their division on waste issues and have initiated a tote bag sharing initiative led by Linda Fotherby.

The Sustainable Future Collective, a student society, organised a “Getting Wasted” event last week with internal and external panellists speaking about food and plastic waste, the circular economy, and sustainability. Another development is Property Services’ appointment earlier this year of waste minimisation specialist, Mark Neal. Mark works on the operations side, whereas Charlotte, Catherine and others work on engaging the broader staff and student body. A key part of Mark’s role is to help design and implement waste minimisation solutions by analysing data, finding sources of any waste increases, checking that waste management, recycling and cleaning service providers are playing their part effectively, assessing stakeholder needs, developing the knowledge necessary to help inform sustainable solutions and practices, and maintaining operational solutions such as the University’s cube and tray system for minimising office waste and the commercial kitchen composting system.

“I’m very excited at the innovative ideas we’re hearing about throughout July,” says Mark.

The challenge I send out to the wider University community is to keep them going.  It’s terrific having programmes like Plastic Free July to raise awareness of ways we can all contribute to waste minimisation, now we want them to become the way we always do things.

Mark Neal University of Auckland Waste Minimisation Specialist