Couple share benefits of life without a rubbish bin
A Wellington couple who decided to live life without a rubbish bin are coming to Nelson to share what they have learnt with others.
When Hannah Blumhardt and Liam Prince decided to see if they could live without sending any waste to landfill, they learnt it was easier than they thought.
In the last few years, the couple have learnt so much about what it takes to live without generating waste, they are in Nelson as part of a nationwide tour to educate schools, businesses and community groups about how individuals can reduce their household rubbish.
Blumhardt said the couple didn’t have a ‘‘eureka moment’’ before deciding to go zero waste. They had already taken steps to send less rubbish to landfill.
‘‘It just goes to show how deeply ingrained disposability is in society because we never figured it could be possible to live without a bin.’’
One day, Blumhardt typed the words ‘‘living without a bin’’ into Google and discovered a network of people across the world living zero waste lifestyles.
‘‘Once you know that other people are doing it, you can’t unknow so I thought if they are doing it, we probably can too.’’
She said living a zero waste lifestyle was easier than they expected it to be and there were lots of positive spin offs, they were eating healthier and saving money for a start.
‘‘Because it was so much easier than we expected there just didn’t seem to be any sense in going back.’’
There was so much interest in their journey that their first talk in Wellington had a huge turnout and led the couple to consider doing a national tour.
Blumhardt said they had noticed since living without a bin that there was an increase in interest around waste reduction.
The couple’s presentation would give people a ‘‘shortcut’’ towards living without rubbish based on what they had learnt.’’
‘‘People can pick and choose what they think fits in with their lifestyle.’’
She said it was important people started by making small changes in their lives instead of becoming fixated on the negatives.
It was important to buy local and make use of what was in the community. Blumhardt said Nelson’s milk vending machines were the ‘‘gold standard’’ in the zero waste movement.
‘‘In most parts of the country the number one question was how do I get my milk without plastic bottles?’’
Their focus was on about keeping things simple and affordable.
‘‘We focus on low budget ways of living without a bin, it doesn’t have to be expensive.’’
Blumhardt said the proof was in the fact they had met people from around New Zealand and from different walks of life who were living the same lifestyle.
‘‘There are so many little things that people can do that do make a difference, you don’t have to turn your life upside down.’’
The Rubbish Trip presents Reducing our Household Rubbish: The Zero Waste Approach at a number of locations in the region in January and February. For dates and times contact your local council or visit www.therubbishtrip.co.nz/ upcoming-events