Local Community Reaps Rewards of Reuse

Taking something old and used, and making it new and useful again, is the big picture view for a large scale revegetation project at Prebbleton. The project is based around an old shingle pit, once used as a source of roading material. Now it is being made useful to the local community once more.

Because the former gravel reserve was also used as a rubbish dump, the area was not suitable for farming or residential use, and so was designated for development as a nature reserve. The Selwyn District Council has provided and planted around 6500 plants on the two and a half hectare site over the last few years, but it was the responsibility of the local community to look after them.

Margaret Hayman and Jim Hutton were appointed by the Prebbleton Community Association to co-ordinate the 15-20 volunteers who take care of the plants, as each year the plants must be mulched and weeded. The group managed to access garden mulch locally, and through one of the volunteers Margaret heard about Waste Exchange. Margaret was soon on the email distribution list, and through it sourced green, plastic vine shelters.

Although the shelters are designed to protect young grapevines, Margaret saw that they would also be perfect for the young shrubs and saplings on the rehabilitation project. First of all the plants were staked, to provide support, and then the vine shelters were put around them. The shelters are designed to clip together, but for extra support they were stapled to the stakes.

“It was quite a bit of work” says Margaret, “but we have the volunteers to do it. The plants have done very well in the shelters; we have had a good success rate and they’ve cut our losses right back as they protect the small plants from wind, rabbits and weeds. We can spray weed killer very close to the plant without damaging it, because of the shelter. I’d definitely recommend them for other community or horticultural projects; they were ideal.”

Margaret also recommends Waste Exchange to others in a similar situation. “We couldn’t have bought the shelters; we would have done without them if we’d had to pay for them, but Waste Exchange is a good system and it’s easy to use. It doesn’t waste time and energy collecting and storing stuff; it puts you in direct contact with the people who have the material.”