Haumaru Housing WasteWise Champions

Haumaru Housing provides housing communities for older people. There are 63 villages across Auckland, with most sites using Auckland Council’s waste collection services. Over the past few years, Haumaru Housing and Auckland Council WasteWise Advisors have worked together to organise and host WasteWise educational sessions for residents. The most recent sessions were held at four West Auckland villages, all managed by the amazing Community Manager, Michelle.

These sessions aimed to empower residents to view waste as a resource and equip them with the knowledge and tools to use their food scraps, recycling, and rubbish bins effectively. Many recycling myths were busted, and residents learned about their local community recycling centre and where to take items that cannot go in kerbside bins, such as batteries, e-waste, and tyres.

Residents were excited to learn that their food scraps are being turned into clean energy and fertiliser. WasteWise Advisors, Emma and Winnie, ) were delighted to see so many food scraps bins out for collection when visiting Flagstaff Court village in Massey – ka pai!

A big thank you to Michelle, who has been pivotal to the success of these sessions. She is passionate about helping residents reduce their waste and has set up extra recycling stations for lids, soft plastics, and batteries at many of her sites. The lid collection has TAKEN OFF, and residents are now busy saving their bottle tops and container lids for recycling through the Caps and Lids Recycling Scheme. How amazing! Keep up the fantastic work!