How often have you driven past an charity shop after hours in the past few weeks - or at any time of the year actually - and seen piles of things dumped outside it's closed doors? It's a particularly visible sight after Christmas, and so with this new year just beginning, instead of dumping the things you don't want, Auckland Council is promoting upcycling to start 2020.
Rebecca Harrington from Auckland Council says people need to be aware that they can’t expect charity shops to sell clothing and items that are in terrible condition.
Upcycled bicycles at Henderson's Tipping Point op shop are an economical alternative to buy a new bike. Photo: supplied
She says the best place to start in reducing our waste is to avoid buying single-use items and think about the future of the objects we buy.
“It’s a cultural shift that we have to make - where has this idea come from that we have to buy new things and to show people our love we have to buy things. That’s something that we have to all work at and, when we get that urge to go buy something, do we really need it?”
Harrington says the initiative was borne out of the need to reduce what gets sent to landfills in the region.
“The community waste-wise team is always looking at ways to equip people to think differently about their waste. Whether it’s reducing their waste in the first place, refusing it, or think creatively about what they can do with their waste before it goes to landfill.”
She says upcycling is a way of looking at broken and run down things and thinking about how we could repair or repurpose them instead of discarding them.
“So, we also support different organisations that might run repair cafes where you can take your items in to be repaired.”
Part of that comes down to how products are made and there’s an increasing demand that manufacturers develop products that can be repaired by the consumer.
She says a quick and fun way to get inspiration for upcycling is to get on Pinterest and search for the item that needs to be repaired or repurposed.
“It’s amazing seeing what you can do with it, it’s really inspiring.”
Finally, she says, another quick way to reduce waste is to put a photo of the item you no longer want on your local community Facebook page or Neighbourly and you’ll often find that people in your area will take it off your hands.
