Cupcycling taking hold in Kaikohe
Several Kaikohe cafe´s have partnered with Te Ru¯nanga-A¯Iwi o Nga¯puhi to encourage the use of reusable cups, and to educate wha¯nau about the detrimental effects that single-use disposable cups have on the environment.
The movement shows how small changes in behaviour can help reduce the estimated 295 million disposable cups that go into landfills every year.
Julie Harris, who owns Cafe´ Malaahi, and her crew were taking small steps to educate their customers.
“We already provide ceramic coffee cups to take away, as well as biodegradable plates and wooden cutlery for takeaway meals. Moreover, people are starting to come around, so cupcycling is the next positive and exciting step,” she said.
The concept was developed by the IdealCup company (idealcup.co.nz) in Motueka, which in less than 11 months diverted 10,663 cups from landfill; Kanteen Cafe´, at NZ Post in Wellington, diverted 7000 single-use cups in four months.
Taryn Taurima, who is leading out the cupcycling initiative for the ru¯nanga, said with the likes of Countdown supermarkets removing plastic bags and other retailers and businesses promoting reusable items, the aim was to encourage our wha¯nau and local communities to reduce waste, support the local cafe´s and the cupcycling kaupapa.
It cost just $10 to join the initiative, that fee including a reusable cup; the first coffee was free. A range of Nga¯puhibranded reusable cups could also be purchased (for $15) as an environmentally-friendly alternative that could be recycled into a new product at the end of its useful life.
“We want to walk the talk on sustainability, starting with reducing disposable coffee cups to landfill. If it works here in Kaikohe, then we’ll look at expanding further,” ru¯nanga CEO Lorraine Toki said.
Participating cafes receive a small return on every Nga¯puhi cup purchased, while saving money from reduced purchasing of disposable cups. Any prospect of a dry summer went on hold in Kaitaia in November, with 74.6mm of rain falling over the last week of the month.
The Northland Age recorded a total of 109.8mm on 15 days, making it the town’s wettest November since 2008, compared with the average of 91.2mm on 12 days.
That took the total for the last 11 months to 1434.4mm on 185 days, well down on the 1659.3mm that fell on 173 days over the same period last year but significantly up on the average of 1277.5mm on 167 days.
The first five days of this month delivered another 29.5mm, more than fell in all of December last year and already beating the driest December on record, 1990, when 14.9mm fell on nine days.
It was relatively wet at Pamapuria too, Robin Shepherd recording 99mm on 15 days, including 32mm on November 24.
The November extremes in Kaitaia were set in 1932 (10mm) and 1999 (216.2mm).
Niwa’s expectations for Northland for the next three months are that temperatures will be warmer than average, rainfall and soil moisture near average, and river flows near to below average.