Refugees turn Post uniforms into bags
A group of Syrian refugees are recycling New Zealand Post uniforms and learning skills that will help them find work.
The project, run by Community Unity in Lower Hutt, transforms the uniforms into a range of bags to reduce our reliance on plastic.
Common Unity organiser Julia Milne said the project had many benefits.
Large corporates like New Zealand Post have a large turnover of uniforms and recycling is a better option than the tip.
The Syrian women are learning valuable skills and enjoy working together in a cooperative way.
‘‘We just call them our Syrian friends, they love sewing.’’
The biggest plus, she said, is the end product. As well as supermarket bags, they are making a range of bags for school lunches.
‘‘I just believe it is no longer acceptable for us to be using plastic bags with the amount of climate change issues that are confronting us. Surely we can eliminate plastic bags.’’
She hopes the project will increase the women’s confidence and lead to work opportunities.
Avalon mum of four and tutor Shelley Rameka is an enthusiastic supporter. The cloth lunch bags have proved a big hit with her family and she no longer uses plastic bags or plastic wraps.
‘‘We have a vege stick bag, a sandwich bag, a cookie bag and a bag we call our nuts sack. They come in four different sizes and the kids take them to school on a daily basis.’’
Her family had a hallelujah moment walking beside the Hutt River, when they noticed the amount of plastic rubbish.
They spent a ‘‘good hour’’ removing plastic from the river.
‘‘The kids are all really keen on fishing and they said ‘what would happen if the fish get caught in all these bags’…That led us to being as plastic free as possible.’’
Common Unity sell the bags and Milne hopes that all schools in the Hutt Valley will one day be plastic free.
As well as being good for the environment, reducing plastic in school lunches has another advantage - it makes it harder to put processed food like pizzas and pies in lunches.
Milne would like to see councils take a more proactive approach to reducing New Zealanders’ reliance on plastic.
‘‘As human beings we need support to make better choices and that is where we need central and local government to provide some pushback on plastics.’’