Praneeta Mahajan
15 December 2022
A cash injection from the Hamilton City Council Waste Minimisation Fund is enabling a Hillcrest Childcare centre to fight the landfill with the help of its little warriors.
Hillcrest Community Childcare Manager Tania Charteris-Bakker is passionate about sustainability. After doing a waste audit of the centre earlier this year, she realised that they needed to find solutions to the waste they were creating.
“It was shocking how much food waste we were making. We were filling 50-litre bins each week with waste from lunchboxes as well as the morning tea that we provide,” she said.
She met Waste Minimisation Education Advisor Belinda Goodwin at a sustainability workshop and discussed ways in which the Centre could deal with food waste.
Ms Charteris-Bakker wanted to learn more, especially about the issues that Hamilton faces. She booked a group visit to see Ms Goodwin at the Education Room, overlooking the Materials Recovery Facility, where the City’s recycling is sorted.
Ms Goodwin suggested her to seek the support of Hamilton City Council’s Waste Minimisation Fund to enable the Centre reduce waste.
“We decided to concentrate on reducing food waste and applied for funds towards a composting system and vegetable garden. Applying was an easy process and I recommend it to other small organisations,” Ms Charteris-Bakker said.
The Garden has been established and the vegetables are nourished each day by the children, who, as part of their routine, take their food waste to the compost bins, weed and water the young plants.
“It is a great lesson for the children to learn at this young age. All of us need to value our resources and I am happy with this initiative” a parent said.
Ms Charteris-Bakker said, “We want to make a difference and encourage the children to take the knowledge home to teach their parents. We want to see them being agents in their learning and their future.”
In the six months since the Centre received funding, Ms Goodwin is impressed with the team at the Centre and the way in which it has been addressing the food waste challenge.
“It is great to see a localised solution, and how the children and the community can be part of that. They are leading the way and showing how easily waste reduction can be done. We hope their journey is an inspiration for other centres to adopt small changes that will ultimately help fight the landfill and support the future for our tamariki (children),” Ms Goodwin said.
The Centre aims to generate fresh vegetables to share with the neighbourhood through a community pantry, as well as for families who cannot always provide lunch for their children.
The teachers at the Centre are concerned about the impact that waste has on the future and the projects they are undertaking are opportunities to make change said one of the teachers.
Praneeta Mahajan is an Indian Newslink Correspondent based in Hamilton.
