Following on from the inspiration of the Hauraki Gulf Islands Network Hui, Lyndsey and I got permission to conduct a waste audit at the end of the recent long weekend. The purpose of the audit was to establish how Rakino-ites are utilising our rubbish collection system, whether we are recycling correctly, and what we are consigning to household waste, in order to ascertain the viability of a community composting system, with an associated community garden.
An unimpressive collection of recyclables and food scraps in the household waste bins.
We were unprepared for just how bad the rubbish disposal practises of Rakino-ites are. If we put the un-recyclables into the recycling bins in Auckland as we do on Rakino, our rubbish wouldn’t be collected. It’s only because Tom and Pat fossick through our filth in order to correctly assign it after they’ve collected it that we avoid sanction.
Recyclable aluminium cans incorrectly placed in the household waste bin.
Many people don’t even put their rubbish into bags to contain it. We found a lot of polystyrene which had just been shoved into the household waste bins. If you can’t take your polystyrene back to Auckland, please break it down and put it into rubbish bags with ties. This is because when the bins are emptied, the propensity for polystyrene beads and pieces to blow away is high. The same applies to moth plant pods; we hugely appreciate your efforts to remove moth plant, especially as it’s a scourge on Rakino with must be removed by landowners, according to council edict, but please put it in bags, and only the pods; not the vines or leaves.
Garbage just tossed into the bins sans bags; tissues, assorted crap, and un-bagged polystyrene.
The worst aspect was the volume of food waste. Food waste was mixed in with recyclables, and all tossed together into household waste bins. Come on, people; we have no rats on Rakino so you could simply bury it, though much of the food we found was still edible, which was quite confronting.
We need to set up a system for food rescue, followed by community composting.
Lyndsey and I are proposing setting up a system to improve the way we deal with waste on Rakino. At this point we can’t do much worse than we are currently; it’s disrespectful to Tom and Pat, and it’s disrespectful to our environment. Living ‘off-grid’ is much more than just collecting rainwater and making solar power. It’s also about treading lightly on the land, reducing, re-using, and recycling.
We intend to see all food waste, brown cardboard, and green waste diverted to community composting, apart from the modest amount that is currently diverted to Pat’s chooks, of course.
Initially we want to supply a few households with small plastic bins with handles, essentially the green compost collection bins we have in Auckland. Tom has generously offered to set aside some waste collection bins for food waste, which will be delivered to our compost site. We will also be removing cardboard (brown carbon waste) from the rubbish collection in order to compost this along with food waste, and we will be encouraging green waste to be donated to the compost scheme, rather than left lying around, or tossed down banks or onto neighbours’ properties. There is funding available, and we intend to go for it. This is Lyndsey’s baby, and it’s going to be a great success. Just watch this space.
Bert wielding a net in order to capture pond greeblies.
In early May, Montana and Marta from Waiheke Resources Trust visited Rakino to catch up with last years inaugural hui participants, and any other interested Rakino-ites. The main focus of the visit was to have a look at a couple of the wetland areas Bert has been water testing in, take a look at the invertebrates found in these areas, but also talk about any other initiatives we might be keen to instigate.
A lively discussion was held on Bert’s deck; most especially around the possibility of introducing a community composting system with a view to starting a community garden. Bert had initiated this part of the conversation, and unbeknownst to me this is a passion of Lyndsey’s, so I was very happy that Simon had made a last minute post on the community FB page, as Lyndsey turned up like a whirlwind of enthusiasm for the potential of this project.
We then headed down to investigate Bert’s wetland, followed by a visit to Hanna and Craig’s pond. I can report there are vast quantities of water boatmen in the pond, and no shortages of mosquito larvae on Rakino.
Marta sharing her knowledge of water creatures while Simon, Mon, Bert, and I observe.
The Hui was held on Waiheke again this year, at the Waiheke Sustainability Center where WRT are based. Participants from Aotea, Kawau, Waiheke, and Rakino attended. This year Simon, Lyndsey, and I self-selected to attend.
There were four main workshops, firstly a tuition in using GIS tools to track pest animal and weed control, as well as volunteer hours. This is a useful tool for recording as it can be quickly utilised for data reports, but also demonstrating to council their funding is being well spent. I cannot tell a lie; the feature that received the most admiration was an excellent widget that demonstrated before and after visuals of planting and wetland restorations, with the sideways movement of a cursor. I’m going to twist Simon’s arm into adding this feature somewhere on this website even if it kills him. Thank you to James Siddle for the presentation.
This was followed by a workshop on engaging with Mana Whenua, presented by Kim Collins from Waiheke Marine Project. Regretfully the intended Mountains to Sea run snorkeling trip around Rakino and Otata organised for Rakino and mana whenua rangatahi had to be postponed then cancelled this year due to inclement weather, but will be planned again for early next year, hopefully during the summer school holidays. It will be a great snorkeling day out for anyone aged 10 to 25, with a little bit of citizen science thrown in also. This is a good low key starting point for Rakino..
The last workshop of the day was the one Lyndsey was hanging out for, Waste Auditing and Surveying, with Denisa Kolouchova from WCRRP. https://islandwastecollective.co.nz/waiheke-community-resource-recovery-park/ This was a really valuable workshop and evolved into a discussion about how we can deal with the problem of food and cardboard waste on Rakino. I’ve been interested in this problem for a while, as you can see here; https://www.rakino.org.nz/2024/03/04/the-rubbish-report/ but it really needs a passionate permanent resident to drive any project like this, and happily Lyndsey and Bert are those people. I’ll be a great cheerleader though! This will take some of the load off Tom and Pat, and benefit the whole community. More to come…….
Septic tank wizard Craig gets up close and personal with the maw of the septic tank.
It was an early start for us on day two as we were traveling from Auckland. Montana cooked us a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs courtesy of Kai Conscious Cafe, and then we powered into the Septic Tank System Workshop, with Marta, and Craig Brown from CBC Wastewater. Septic tanks cause trepidation, no denying it. I suspect the majority of septic tank owners know very little about how they work, and how to maintain them so as to avoid great expense. I knew next to nothing about them despite having lived with one for seven years a few decades ago. I now have a pretty decent understanding about the inner workings of the scariest things on the island. I’ve looked into the maw and found it mainly harmless, and not that stinky. Craig was a great speaker with a compelling style of presentation. If you want the levels of scum/water/sludge measured in your septic tank, I now know how to do it, and what the ratio should be. That doesn’t mean I’m going to though… I think he’d be a great guy to get over to Rakino for a septic tank workshop some time in the future.
Scum/water/sludge measuring device/poo stick; a length of bamboo.
We finished up with a session at the Waiheke Library, with a plan to move ahead with our various island projects, and a commitment to meet again next year, maybe on Kawau or Aotea. An inspiring couple of days, great to meet up again with the representatives from other islands, and make some new contacts and friends.
Many thanks to Waiheke Resources Trust for their great organisation, the Kai Conscious Cafe for their delicious food, the presenters who gave their time and energy, and the participants for showing commitment to a really cool initiative. See you all again next year!
In early May, Bert, Dylan, and I hosted a day visit to Rakino by the Waiheke Resources Trust.
Bert hosting a wetland tour for us on Rakino in May.
The WRT staff were visiting Kawau, Aotea, and Rakino as part of their mission to create community driven links between the four Gulf Islands. Check out the link to their website here : https://wrt.org.nz/
We had a busy day roaming through Bert’s and Kendal’s regenerating wetlands, visiting the nursery, and the intrepid Waihekeans Kristin, Montana, Nathalya, and Kym also had a comprehensive vehicular island tour courtesy of Dylan.
This was a precursor to a hui to be held by Waiheke Resources Trust on Waiheke in mid June, and attended by people from each of the four islands.
My association with WRT goes back a couple of years when they helpfully umbrella-ed a Local Board grant application, so I was enthusiastic to meet them in person, but also to connect with people from other islands. I was also interested to see a different side of Waiheke. I’d only visited the island in the past for events like Sculpture in the Gulf, and other people’s Big Birthday celebrations, so I was keen to have some encounters on Waiheke that were less injurious to my wallet with people that were similarly interested in ecology, environmental restoration, and waste reduction. Bert, Dylan, Simon, and I self-selected for the meet-up.
This necessitated a ferry trip and overnight stay, as the hui was to be held over two days.
Simon and I arrived early, and went for a quick wander around Oneroa. We spotted a likely looking chap in redbands and a swandri striding along the opposite side of the road. He had the reassuring aspect of a Rakino-ite, and turned out to be part of the delegation from Great Barrier as we discovered when we got back to the Sustainability Center which houses the WRT. Bert had arrived, but unfortunately rough weather meant that Dylan was unable to make the journey from Rakino to Waiheke in Kraken.
After lunch provided by the Kai Concious food rescue team followed by introductions we headed out on the first visit, to the Waiheke Community Resource Recovery Park, formerly known as the Waiheke Transfer Station, or ‘the dump’. WCRRP is part of the Zero Waste Collective, and it’s their task to divert as much ‘waste’ as possible from landfill. We had an animated discussion with Keith Enoka, the general manager of the waste collective, followed by a tour of the recovery station. I urge you to check out this link; it’s pretty inspirational, and an important consideration for all island dwellers as everything we bring to the island eventually ends up being removed at great expense. https://islandwastecollective.co.nz/
Bundles of recovered cardboard.Electric rubbish truck recharging.
Our next visit was to the Compost Collective. Mike Fogarty heads up the composting team, and he gave us a comprehensive run through of the processes involved. The collective is supplied with food waste from a number of Waiheke restaurants which they compost with green waste. It was a post-prandial challenge to stare into the bin which had a top layer of fat/meat/bones, but the final product is a rich, dark, worm-laden compost which has a high nutrient value. Check out the link here : https://wrt.org.nz/composting/
Mike and the clever bins designed for the layered composting system he has developed.Mike answering our composting questions while Simon looks askance at the meat/fat/bones devolving.
This was followed up by a visit to the plant nursery. The nursery supplies eco-sourced native plants to the public, but importantly, to the wetland planting restoration projects run by WRT, our next visit…
Waiheke nursery visit.
The Rangihoua wetland restoration project is seriously impressive, not in any small way because of the sheer volume of weeds that have had to be removed before any planting could get underway. Moth plant and woolly nightshade are a curse, but multiply that with invasive honeysuckle which is not permitted to be dealt with by spraying, and the task looks gargantuan. Kym Rawson the restoration manager gave us a tour of the area which is in varying stages of regeneration. It’s looking great, and I was also really impressed by the numbers of volunteers the project has, given that mainly people like planting trees, but weeding less so. Kym visited Rakino in May with the other WRT team, and had been impressed by the regenerative plantings on Rakino, as well as having useful insight to share about our wetlands.
Part of the extensive Rangihoua planting.Kym talking about weeds and how to remove them…
We returned to the Sustainability Center to relax, chat about the day with our new acquaintances, indulge in a couple of cold beverages, meet up with some more WRT staff, and feast on a potluck dinner, before heading off to our accommodation.
Day 2 of the hui focused on group workshops and a presentation by Livné Ore on the ins and outs of making successful funding applications. Livné was invaluable in guiding me when I applied for a modest sum for a snorkeling workshop, so I found her presentation helpful. Dylan had also found a window in the dodgy weather and managed to safely steer Kraken to Waiheke, so he could attend the final day.
Kristin and Montana will be collating all the outcomes of the hui, but broadly speaking there was agreement that it would be useful to share existing knowledge and resources, and that there was potential power in getting Auckland Council to view our collective islands as a distinct region while retaining our individual ‘cultures’. Thinking about some specific collective inter-island projects was also front of mind. We are also keen to re-convene in a year, as well as hold regular catch-ups and connect on social media. Everyone was keen to stress that none of us represent our individual islands, but as hui participants we have shared goals and interests. I’m looking forward to reading the collated discussion.
Many thanks to WRT for the huge effort in co-ordinating the hui, all the site visits, the great food provided by the kai conscious team, and many thanks to all the other participants who traveled to attend. I really enjoyed meeting people from other islands and seeing a completely different side of Waiheke to previous experiences.
