Blog

Cultivate & Motivate

Learnings, teachings and tips & tricks to educate you how to reduce and reuse.

Pesky Microfibers

A lot of our textiles and clothing garments are unfortunately entirely or at least partly made from synthetic materials, including Polyester, Viscose, Nylon, Elastane, Polyester (Polar) Fleece + many trademarked textiles. Teeny microfibres from these materials are shed during each laundry cycle and are washed away with our machine’s wastewater - ending up in essentially every part of our ecosystem. Our water, our air, our soil, our produce and our whānau! These fibres can be extremely detrimental to our natural world. Once in our environment, the tiny microplastics irreversibly degrade into smaller and smaller particles and are impossible to retrieve.

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Recycling by Region, Aotearoa!

Understanding what can be recycled can be a bit tricky, especially as it varies from region to region. If you are struggling, you may find it helpful to search up your local council website and do a little digging. If that sounds too hard, you’ve come to the right place.

Most Res.Awesome followers can agree that Aotearoa is in need of a more capable waste infrastructure system. Some of you may not know that we are moving towards a nationally standardised recycling system. Until then, maybe it is a good idea to come to grips with what can be recycled in your region; as at the moment, there are some regional discrepancies.

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Don’t bin it, Compost It!

Composting - Why is it such a big deal?

Composting is important for many reasons!

Climate action

Soil resiliency

Carbon sequestration

Kai!

The Government recently consulted on "transforming recycling". One of the primary outcomes is getting food waste out of our general household rubbish, as it is super important to divert organic waste from landfills. Food waste is composed of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen along with some other elements. When food waste ends up in landfills - it is buried. Here, microorganisms begin to break it down during a process known as anaerobic digestion; a kind of digestion that does not require oxygen. As a byproduct of this process, greenhouse gases (methane, carbon dioxide) are produced. If these gases are not captured they are released into the atmosphere. This is bad news!

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How to Get it Done! Release yourself from Single-use throwaways!

Our society is ready for change. This one is for you coffee slingers!

When it comes to making a positive change for our local communities and our wider world, the good news is it is easier than ever to do your bit as a coffee retailer! Alternatives to the dreaded takeaway cup do exist. Thankfully the use of ‘keep cups’ has increased massively. If you own, manage or work in a coffee dispensary here are a few suggestions to get you started.

Talk it through with your staff

Their engagement is key. Talk together about how you all feel and reassure them that they will be supported moving forward.

Line up your alternatives

This is key. It’s like parenting (as is much of hospo right?)! It is always best to anticipate the objections you may face and line up solutions before they come up. Do your research on how to transition away from throwaway culture to ensure the switch is smooth sailing. That could look like a mug library, a reuse system or giving your keep cup users a bonus for getting on board.

Engage with your customers

Talk to your locals and regulars. Use your social media (if you have it) and posters to prepare your customers. There are free downloads on the UYO website via the ‘SIGNS CAMPAIGNS GUIDES’ button that you are welcome to take, edit or use as inspiration.

Talk it through with your coffee supplier

Coffee roasters are happy not to have their branding on single-use rubbish as they clog up rubbish bins or are littered on the street. Run your ideas past them. Some are more progressive than others and may have ways to support you in regard to supplying reusables for retailing or to loan you cups as you move forward. And the next time you order single-use cups (it won’t be forever right?) request that they are plain, unbranded. This will remove the temptation to your staff, and your customers, to promote throwaway culture on social media.

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Let’s Break Down That Single Use Cup!

Takeaway or disposable cups are gradually being eliminated from hospitality vendors around the country, as the use of ‘keep cup’s has increased massively. Good on you Kiwi’s! Most of us know by now that takeaway cups and service-ware are not doing us or our world any favours, but lets break this issue down a little further. When it comes to takeaway cups, what are they really made from and what keeps the coffee inside? All disposable coffee cups have something more than paper present in their design. There are many reasons we encourage consumers to put down the paper cups in favour of the keep variety and we would like to share some right here.

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Hot Tips For Reuse - Workplace Edition!

An easy to use 10-step guide to minimise waste in your workplace, and make positive steps towards Zero Waste in your office and personal life.

The team at Res.Awesome are proud to announce the release of our easy to use waste reduction guide for your workplace. We created this to help you minimise waste in your place of work and make positive steps towards zero-waste in your life. The guide is available for purchase on our website and is packed full of information on how to keep your office (whatever that may look like) as sustainable as possible.

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Zero waste, waste to energy, e-waste, Behaviour change Senorita AweSUMO Zero waste, waste to energy, e-waste, Behaviour change Senorita AweSUMO

In Pursuit of Zero Waste

When it comes to living a zero waste or simply, sustainable life there are many things that appear to get in the way of our mission. There are also many factors that seem to help us on our journey. The team at Res.Awesome would like to take this opportunity to explore some barriers that hinder our progress and on the flipside, some motivators that fuel our momentum.

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Zero waste, waste to energy, e-waste Senorita AweSUMO Zero waste, waste to energy, e-waste Senorita AweSUMO

Recycle A Device

Recycle A Device is an initiative aiming to reuse our resources, improve public knowledge and facilitate change in the technology sector from a community based perspective. Recycle A Device encourages businesses, schools, learning institutions and individuals to participate in a circular waste economy. Upcoming updates in stewardship regulations will hopefully become better understood by our communities, enabling best sustainability practices.

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Zero waste, events Senorita AweSUMO Zero waste, events Senorita AweSUMO

EVENT: WIBO Host Friday 26th November @Petridish

Each time a woman stands up for herself, she stands up for all women - Maya Angelou

The Res.Awesome team are joining forces with the Women In Business Otago family to host their next event. Join the Woman in Business Otago networking group on facebook to get your discounted ticket. Come along and connect in person to learn more about what we get up to, how we can help you and how we got here.

WHEN: Friday 26th November 4pm -5.30pm

WHERE: The Penthouse at Petridish, Stafford St - Tickets are required to attend <3

(front door is open from 3.55 - 4:05pm - so don’t be late friends <3)

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Zero waste, pod cast Senorita AweSUMO Zero waste, pod cast Senorita AweSUMO

PODCAST with Harshmeen Kaur

I spoke with entrepreneur and business coach Harshmeen Kaur a few weeks ago about my life and how zero waste infiltrated it and taught me some big lessons.

“What you have and are as a being will always be honest to self and earth alike!”

Fiona Clements AKA Senorita AweSUMO 2007

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Zero waste Senorita AweSUMO Zero waste Senorita AweSUMO

Why a ReWash Truck!

Dunedin has an ambitious goal to become a zero waste city by 2030 and the team at Res.Awesome have an exciting project in the works to help get us there. Tackling our waste problem will require action at all levels; government, local council, businesses and individual consumers. A significant contributor to our local waste problem is Ōtepoti’s food and beverage industry. We believe with a few simple steps, this can change. The hospitality industry’s adoption of single-use products has become a normalised part of dining out culture and our Rewash Truck is just the solution.

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It’s time for us to be smarter