Kaikōura waste-buster makes his annual one-bag pilgrimage to dump
Monday, 15 January 2018
For the past 10 years Kaikōura waste-buster Ralph Hogan and his wife Ali have made it their mission to stuff a year's worth of rubbish into one Kleensack bag for their annual pilgrimage to the local landfill, Innovative Waste Kaikōura.
The couple are committed to minimising the town's rubbish, which prides itself on having a vision to send zero-waste to landfill.
Most families put a bag of a similar size out for collection, or take to IWK every week but this innovative couple make sure one bag lasts a whole year. They also choose a rubbish bag which is biodegradable, or made of recyclable materials.
Ralph Hogan said all their glass, plastic, cardboard is recycled. Leftover food is composted to be used in the garden to take on a second life.
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'We try not to buy plastic that isn't recyclable,' he said.
Hogan said the yearly accumulation of rubbish would be less if it wasn't for the large number of Tetra Pak cartons, the couple buy their rice milk in, squashed in to the bag.
These aren't easily recycled because they are laminated with several different layers, paperboard, polyethylene, and aluminum.
Hogan would like to see central government ban plastic or at least put an environment charge on plastics.
'The real answer is to ban it outright.
'We need to look at banning this stuff,' he said.
Hogan said government needs to take the lead and bring in measures to reduce the amount of plastic allowed into the consumer stream.
'Supermarkets also need to look at the packaging they use,' he said.