Mahurangi Wastebusters ECE programme

10/09/2024

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17/10/2022

To register for the Kingsway Preschool Love Food Hate Waste workshop follow this link:

https://events.humanitix.com/kingsway-preschool-20-october-22-love-food-hate-waste-at-the-back-of-the-fridge-creative-cooking-with-leftovers

Tickets are free, just good to know how many are coming. See you there!

Join Pip from Love Food Hate Waste on Thursday 20 October at 6.30pm, and get inspired at this free workshop, full of tips to make the most of your leftovers, so you can feed your family for less. About this event Learn creative new ideas to use up those forgotten ingredients hiding at the back of yo...

17/10/2022

There is a Love Food Hate Waste workshop on this coming Thursday October 20th at Kingsway Preschool Snells Beach, 6:30pm - 8:30pm. Kingways Preschool Snells Beach is one of the ECE's on a waste minimisation journey with us. If you want to check out one of these awesome workshops feel free to join us there!

Join Pip from Love Food Hate Waste and get inspired at this free local workshop, full of tips to make the most of your leftovers, so you can feed your family for less.

Learn creative new ideas to use up those forgotten ingredients hiding at the back of your fridge, at this free local workshop.

Feed your family for less by loving your leftovers, with hints on how to create delicious and nutritious dishes from common leftovers.

You’ll also get great advice about how to store your fresh food and leftovers, to help them last longer. Making the most of the food we have helps save money and is better for the environment.

Hosted by Love Food Hate Waste tutor Pip and proudly brought to you by EcoMatters, thanks to Auckland Council.

05/09/2022

Here's a great opportunity to get involved in Clean Up Week. FREE clean up kits are available for ECE's so get in quick before they run out!
Gather your tamariki and visit your local park or street to pick up some litter... Don't let it go down the storm water drains to the ocean!

New Zealand's largest movement against litter is happening THIS month!
Beginning on World Clean Up Day on the 17th of September.
This is such a great opportunity for schools, businesses, community groups, friends and families to get together, collect litter and make a difference in their neighbourhood.
Registering is also super easy and gives you access to great free resources!
Have you registered for Clean Up Week 2022 yet? Follow the link below to register: https://www.knzb.org.nz/programmes/clean-new-zealand-beautiful/clean-up-week/

01/09/2022

WOW....check out this great idea! Wellsford Preschool has repurposed their paper towel dispensers to now be reusable cloth towel dispensers! What a fantastic idea.

The word at the centre is that the children happily only take one and have adapted to the new cloth towels easily. Nice work team!

30/08/2022

Here's some great workshops coming up to help you learn about how food waste to compost is a very good thing!

We've got three great local workshops coming up in the next few weeks. The theme is food waste in compost = ✅ vs food waste in landfill = ❌ Simple right!
It really is such a simple way you can decrease your impact on the environment. Learn how & learn more at these free workshops -

🌱 Friday 2nd Sept 11-12 Compost Collective workshop at the Eco Shop is the 'how to' for compost and biochar. Register here https://compostcollective.org.nz/events-calendar/
🌱 Sunday 4th Sept 1-3 at the Wainui Hall. With Cherryle Prew of the Soil Food Web NZ - an informative higher level seminar about the importance of soil as a carbon sink. City to Farm
🌱 Sunday 11th Sept 11-1. Green Clinic at Whangaparāoa Library This interactive event will have local experts to answer your questions about waste, composting, pests and gardening

Our events tab has more details.
See you there!

27/07/2022

Forget about plastic wrap in your lunch boxes! Beeswax wraps are the way to go, they are the natural waste-free option. They easily wrap around your food items or if you feel like a bit of origami, you can fold pouches to put snacks in too.

Beeswax wraps:
- save you money, no continual spending on boxes of plastic wrap.
- keep your food fresh, they are water tight but will still let the food breathe.
- are reusable and easy to care for, just rinse in cold water and hang to dry.
- biodegradable, so you can put them into your home compost!

Buy one and give it a go!

25/07/2022

What’s the problem with plastic in the ocean?
If you ask this question tamariki will often know that if plastic is in the ocean it is bad for the animals that live there. Many marine animals mistake plastic rubbish floating about as food which can make them sick or be fatal.
The 'save the animals' activity is a hands on experience to help talk about why it's so important to make sure we dispose of plastic we do use the right way.
Activity: Save the animals
Not only opens discussion about why plastic in the ocean is bad, but is also good practice for fine motor skills.
What you’ll need:
- A water tub
- Blue food dye (optional)
- Marine animal toys
- A range of plastic rubbish: fishing line, small pieces of plastic, straws, cups, plastic bags etc.
- Tongs
Add the plastic rubbish to the water. Don’t let tamariki see you do this as it is not modelling the behaviour we want to see. Ask them to pick out the pieces of plastic with tongs to save the animals.

Let us know how this activity goes for you in the comments below.

20/07/2022

Glitter glitter.... everywhere! Yes it's so pretty but it's also made of little bits of plastic. Those sparkly specks of micro plastic are near impossible to remove from the environment once there and can't be recycled because they are too small to separate out.

So consider using one of these alternatives:
- PAPER GLITTER - get tamariki to hone their fine motor skills by hole punching old art work to create beautiful 'glitter' that they can reuse on more art work!
- NATURE'S GLITTER - get out for some fresh air and hunt for little pieces of petals and leaves to use in place of glitter. It may not be as shiny but it sure is as pretty!
- SALT OR SAND GLITTER - using salt or sand, food dye or water based paint, mix it around then dry it out. An economical way to make some very pretty coloured glitter.
- BIODEGRADABLE GLITTER - if you crave the true sparkle of old school plastic glitter then search for biodegradable glitter. It is more expensive but definitely worth it for special occasions.

18/07/2022

This activity explores how long different materials take to break down.

Get some containers, add some active soil in the bottom and add different materials to each e.g. banana peel, plastic wrap, piece of newspaper, metal. Poke some holes in the top so oxygen can still get in and keep the soil damp.

Alternatively if you have a garden pick a small area where you can bury each of these items. Once a week dig them up and discuss how they have changed over time. Don't forget to mark where you buried everything!

Ask tamariki to predict how long each item will take to break down. Which one will be fastest? Which one will take the longest?

REMEMBER - paper and food scraps decompose and return to the soil, plastic never decomposes, it simply breaks up into smaller and smaller pieces.