Reduce costs, waste, and impact
by Neha Gosalia, Sustainable Queenstown
RRRRIP- not a sound you want to hear your jeans make when you’re setting up an event with no spare clothing at hand. Lucky for me, the event happened to be the first ever Repair Cafe in Glenorchy last weekend, and our volunteer seamstress had reported early and sorted out a quick patch so I didn’t have to spend the afternoon walking around with a drop cloth wrapped around my waist.
The Glenorchy community gave us a warm and enthusiastic welcome, with many DIY enthusiasts just coming by for a look to see how they might run events of their own in the future. They brought in everything from busted zips on jeans to pitchforks, ripped curtains to antique coffee tables- and our tiny but mighty team of 5 Repair Heroes did an incredible job of diagnosing and fixing these items, and showing people how to take care of their items.
Getting items fixed to avoid having to replace them, and learning repair skills to maintain them is just one of the ways that Sustainable Queenstown and Wastebusters are helping our community save money. Next up is Wastebusters’ Low Waste Living workshop series. The first set of workshops will be focused on Households jam-packed full of loads of affordable plastic-free swaps & alternatives, tips for refilling and shopping, yummy low-waste recipes, handy bathroom swaps plus practical ways to reduce your food scraps.
Sustainable Queenstown are hosting the workshops in Frankton (25th May) and Arrowtown (31st May). Tickets are $10 and available on Humanitix or via the Sustainable Queenstown Facebook events.
Are you a local business offering low waste, sustainably-minded products? Get in touch with Neha sq.resourcefulcommunities@gmail.com.
Resourceful Communities is created by Wastebusters, and delivered in the Whakatipu by Sustainable Queenstown.
