Marlborough Express - Weekend Express
Scrape baby’s nappy and flush
Waste-free living is becoming increasingly popular as Kiwis place more emphasis on our environment. Most supermarkets advocate the use of reusable bags over plastic, and products like steel drinking straws and reusable produce bags have been created out of a desire to lessen our waste output.
But there’ll always be some rubbish that needs to be thrown in the bin. So what do you do with waste like paint, medical supplies, electronics and, erm, poop? You don’t put it out with your household rubbish, that’s for sure.
When you’ve finished creating a feature wall in your dining room, don’t pour leftover paint down the sink or into stormwater drains. Many paint supply stores recycle unwanted and leftover paint; just ask about this service when you buy a tin. Resene ColorShops even donate recycled paint to community groups. And you never know: your neighbour might want to paint their shed the same fetching shade of cobalt blue you used in your dining room, so offering paint free to a good home on Neighbourly is a good solution, too.
We’re all guilty of not using a full course of antibiotics, so what do you do when your medicine cabinet needs emptying? Don’t throw drugs down the toilet or into the rubbish; return any unwanted, unused or expired medicines to your local chemist for safe disposal.
If you don’t know what to do with broken smartphones or obsolete tube TVs, don’t send them to the dump. Most electronic equipment is constructed from toxic materials that not only leach chemicals into our ground, they can be harmful for the people who handle our waste too. Many organisations collect E-waste (electronic waste) then recycle it safely and environmentally – just ask for a recommendation on Neighbourly or look up waste collections for your part of the country online.
Parents of small humans, did you know that you’re meant to flush your child’s No. 2s down the toilet before you chuck their nappy in the bin? Despite the instructions on the back of nappy boxes, most parents throw a nappy and all its contents straight into the bin.
I conducted a poll of 725 mums on social media and discovered that scraping poop out of nappies and flushing it down the loo had never occurred to over 60 per cent of them, while another 24 per cent knew they should but didn’t.
Not only do the soiled nappies make your nappy bin stink, poo also spreads disease (that’s why we teach our children to wash their hands after they’ve done their business) so it makes sense that faeces fermenting in a landfill is a recipe for poor sanitation. Remember though: don’t flush baby wipes because they’re not designed to break down like toilet paper and can contribute to blocked sewers and ‘‘fatbergs’’.
Most of New Zealand is blessed with roadside collections for everyday household waste, but if you’re not sure what can be collected and what can’t, just ask your local council.