Nelson family living the low-waste dream
With only a bag of rubbish every six weeks, Sue Ware is nailing waste minimisation.
The Nelson woman says it hasn’t been difficult to reduce her family’s environmental impact without sacrificing their lifestyle.
‘‘With the soft plastic recycling we now have in Nelson, it’s very possible [for people] to reduce their waste right down.’’
Ware lives with her husband and two children.
She said she managed to produce such a small amount of rubbish by composting food scraps, giving leftover meat to her dog and chickens, buying in bulk, and recycling both her paper and soft plastic.
Ware said she’d been environmentally conscious for many years, but it was with the introduction of the soft plastic recycling scheme in the region’s supermarkets about six months ago that the family were able to drastically reduce their rubbish.
‘‘I just realised that the soft plastic was our problem. Before the scheme was introduced, we would have one rubbish bag every two weeks.’’
Ware said it was easy for people to reduce their environmental impact with the support of different organisations, such as supermarkets going plastic bag-free.
‘‘When I drive to work on rubbish day, the amount of bags that [people] put out astounds me, sadly, such as one house having multiple bags out.
‘‘The impact our waste has on the planet is just getting worse and worse, it’s increasing exponentially, and we’re seeing the effects of it.’’
Ware said her family lived on a ‘‘big old section’’ with 30 food trees and a big vegetable garden, and were able to run it with a minimal amount of waste going out.
This included green waste, for which she mostly used her mulcher, unless she wanted to get rid of invasive species in her garden.
She even uses a granule mix from the Nelson Environment Centre for her dog’s waste, which allows her to put the composted waste in her orchard.
Ware said that nowadays, there was a lot of information available on how to reduce your environmental footprint.
‘‘It’s easier than we think without having to sacrifice the lifestyle you choose to have.’’
Her family is very involved in the environmentally conscious lifestyle, too, with her daughter telling her when she’s left the lights on.
‘‘She also made me a set of these produce bags out of Chux cloths for Christmas.
‘‘And we’ve been making beeswax wrappers as a family activity, too.’’
‘‘With the soft plastic recycling we now have in Nelson, it’s very possible [for people] to reduce their waste right down.’’
Sue Ware