02-07-2025
Landfill avoided thanks to hub
As interest in reducing waste and reusing items grows, efforts to divert goods from landfill are becoming increasingly popular.
The OneCoast Hub at the Waikouaiti Transfer Station is saving material from landfill one banana box at a time.
Each week a huge range of donated articles arrive at the centre, including sports equipment, books, jewellery, clothing, toys, games, fabrics such as blankets and curtains, kitchen utensils, vases and ornaments, garden and outdoor gear, tools and hardware.
OneCoast chairwoman Judy Martin said the items were collected in banana boxes, then sorted and arranged in a series of containers at the site.
Items are sold for a nominal sum, generally less than $5, and one container is used to display free goods.
"I like to think that everybody has a right to this stuff, everybody should be able to afford this stuff."
The hub comprises two 20-foot containers with a waterproof shelter between them. An additional 40-foot container backs on to them, providing sizable storage space.
Another container serves as an office and sorting area, while a shed provides storage and bicycle repairs.
About a dozen volunteers help the steady stream of people who visit the recovery centre on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons.
Hub supervisor Lou Stone said the volunteers were "amazing".
"They are here for all the right reasons."
Many local people have become regular visitors, often calling in to look for items before deciding to buy new ones.
The volunteers have become adept at knowing what items are tucked away at the hub.
"Nine times out of ten, the volunteers probably know more than I do.
"But today someone asked for something and I said 'yep, that is over in that corner there'," Miss Stone said.
Unique items that have come through the hub include a tiny horse and carriage with Swarovski crystal embellishments, a 1970s Zachary Enchanter electronic organ, an antique Singer sewing machine and an old English-style scythe.
The hub uses its Facebook page to highlight unusual items and runs online auctions with opening bids as low as $5.
Social media has also helped to identify mystery objects, such as a curious-looking pair of tongs later revealed as pottery tools.
Beyond the shed, OneCoast has launched offshoots such as a weekly Fibre Mondays sewing and knitting group and seasonal clothing sales at the East Otago Event Centre.
A darning workshop called Mend My Merino is planned for Slow Fashion September, a month highlighting the sustainable advantages of re-wearing, mending and upcycling clothing as well as choosing to shop at second-hand stores.
A Dunedin City Council Waste Minimisation grant is funding bike-repair workshops at Waikouaiti and Karitane schools, led by mechanically-minded local resident Ian Lawson.
The workshops will help young people learn to repair their bicycles and offer advice on maintaining them properly.
The success of the hub at the Waikouaiti Transfer Station is creating pressure to expand.
The trust plans to bulldoze and gravel a neighbouring area to create more car parking.
Once that work is finished, space beside the current containers will be available for further development.
One idea is to create a standalone area for free items that could stay open when the rest of the hub is closed.
Mrs Martin said the trust hoped the Dunedin City Council would do more to help by providing regular funding.
The Waste Minimisation grant had been helpful for projects such as education.
"But it doesn't pay for people, operational costs [and] wages."
She suggested funds could be allocated from the waste disposal levy.
"There is a levy on everything that goes to landfill and some of that goes back into community efforts to reduce waste.
"We think that we would be a good candidate to be funded that way." Reducing waste
OneCoast Hub measures donations by counting banana boxes, estimating 20 boxes to each cubic metre.
Between April last year and March this year 2378 boxes were donated, roughly 120cu m.
About 1cu m a month of damaged or unusable goods were sent to landfill, leaving about 108cu m of items diverted from disposal. With each full box weighing an estimated 10kg the total haul could be about 21 tonnes.
