This guide covers Waipa and Matamata-Piako districts only. For other districts in the Waikato Region, please refer to the Zero Waste in the Waikato Regionpost.
Our heartfelt gratitude to Sugarcube Studios, for bringing our guides to life – designing a map for us and creating such joyful imagery to go with it!
Lots of pantry staples – from flours, grains and rice, through to condiments, spices, legumes, nuts, seeds and liquid foods – usually come in single-use packets. These shops stock all manner of pantry foods loose in bulk bins (or operate return & refill systems for their packaging), allowing you to put these goods straight into your own bags, jars, containers and bottles, and skip the packaging!
Bin Inn Te Awamutu, 170/13 George Street, Te Awamutu – offers a wide array of dried food in bulk (including, but not limited to, legumes, nuts, seeds, cereals, grains, flours, sugars and pasta), a range of spices, liquid foods (including oils, syrups and a wide array of vinegars), sweets and treats, and items essential for zero waste living, such as baking soda, salt and other specialty baking/cooking goods. They also have a peanut butter extruder, just BYO jar! All Bin Inn stores around New Zealand are currently offering 5% discount when you bring your own containers! The Bin Inn in Te Awamutu is also phasing out the plastic bags most Bin Inns offer for people to put their bulk product into and instead will be offering paper bags – yay!
Fill Good, 29a Victoria Street, Cambridge – another waste busting store for the Waikato! Stocks a wide range of bulk dry food (grains, seeds, legumes, flour, dried fruit, salt, sugar, spices, condiments and more, including unpackaged chocolate made in Raglan :-O); refills of liquids like oils, vinegars, syrups and honey; seasonal, organic and packaging-free fresh produce, and even has peanut butter on tap – BYO bags, containers, jars and bottles!
Forage, 21 Empire Street, Cambridge – this store has stepped up to meet the demand in Cambridge for unpackaged bulk food. Stocks a range of dried food in bulk bins (grains, seeds, nuts, dried fruit and more), and honey and apple cider vinegar on tap – BYO bags/bottles/containers!
RedBerry Supermarket, 130 Broadway, Matamata – new owners are keen to expand the stock of dried wholefoods in bulk bins – currently just a few beans and legumes, but soon to be more.
Healthy Refill, 66a Arawa Street, Matamata – stocks a small range of beans/legumes and spices in bulk bins. You can also get peanut butter made straight from their extruder, just BYO jar.
Thames Street Pantry, 258 Thames Street, Morrinsville – another independent waste busting store for small-town Waikato! Stocks a wide range of bulk dry food (grains, seeds, legumes, flour, dried fruit, salt, sugar, spices, condiments and more) and refills of liquids like oils and vinegars. They also have a peanut butter extruder! BYO bags, containers, jars and bottles!
Joe’s Health Foods, 225 Thames Street, Morrinsville – this store stocks an impressive range of dried food in bulk bins, including grains, flours, legumes, nuts, seeds and dried fruit. However, the owner didn’t seem too keen on the idea of people bringing BYO bags to fill up, so it might be worth more locals broaching the issue!
Villa Nine – Organic Health Shop, 9 Lawrence Avenue, Te Aroha – stocks a range of bulk dried foods, from legumes, nuts, seeds and dried fruit, through to grains and flours. In the shop front all these items are already repackaged, but the storekeepers are happy to fill BYO bags and containers out back if you ask (try and do this outside of lunchtime hours as the store is also a thriving cafe!).
Supermarkets – most major supermarkets have well stocked bulk bin/pick and mix sections with wholefoods (BYO bags for these). However they’re pretty expensive, often more so than equivalent ingredients in packets (bah!), and more so than the bulk bins at places like Bin Inn.
The following shops sell unpackaged meat, sausages, smallgoods, seafood, cheese and/or deli foods and will happily put these straight into a BYO container – woohoo!
Expleo Butchery, 51 Mahoe Street, Te Awamutu – also do gourmet cheeses cut off the wheel
Unpackaged live mussels – there are a number of stores that stock unpackaged live mussels at self-serve counters. We put them straight into upcycled ice cream containers/BYO containers rather than the plastic bags the stores usually provide. You can find unpackaged live mussels at New World Cambridge, 14 Anzac Street, Cambridge; and New World Matamata, 45 Waharoa Road East, Matamata.
Fermented Foods – Good Bugs Sauerkraut, Kimchi and more are sold in returnable glass jars at the Cambridge Farmers Market, Victoria Square, Cambridge (every Saturday from 8am-noon) – return the jars and they will be sterilised and reused!
Supermarket delis – Most supermarkets have a deli section offering unpackaged meat, seafood, olives and other antipasti, salads, lunch foods and more. All Countdown, New World and PAK’nSAVE supermarkets officially allow you to BYO container for these goods!
The following stores bake and sell unpackaged bread and bakery goods (in some of these stores some items might be pre-packed or wrapped in cling film, just avoid those things!). Simply BYO bread bag to put the bread/bakery goods into. Some places will bag up their bread later in the day, so you want to get in there before they do that (i.e. before 1pm).
Mountain View Bakery, 733 Franklin Street, Pirongia
Caffeine, 49 Lorne Street, Morrinsville – Volare bread, may be in a brown paper bag
Markets – No two ways about it, if you want a good source of unpackaged (often locally grown) produce, markets are the place to go! At most markets you can meet the grower/producer face-to-face, making them an ideal place to start fruitful conversations about waste-free food, and to develop relationships and systems that enable you to get your favourite fruit, vege and preserves without the packaging. You may also find local producers of pre-made foods like tofu, preserves and sauces etc. Have a chat to see if you can leave containers with the stall holders for them to fill with your desired product for you to pick up from them the following week, or if the stallholder uses glass jars for packaging, ask whether they will take their empty glass jars back for sterilisation and reuse. Check out Pirongia Market, Community Centre, 574 Crozier Street, Pirongia – last Sunday of the month; Kihikihi Carboot Market, 18 Lyon Street, Kihikihi – Sundays from 9am; Te Awamutu Council Carpark Market, 101 Bank Street, Te Awamutu – Saturdays 8.00-12.00; Te Awamutu Produce Market, Selwyn Park i-Site, Te Awamutu – Thursdays 1.30-5.15; Cambridge Farmers’ Market, Victoria Square, Cambridge, every Saturday from 8am-noon.
Vege boxes/crates – There are a few options to get fresh produce boxes delivered (or picked up) without packaging in the district: The Village Collective, free delivery in Pirongia, click & collect in Cambridge (doesn’t run over winter); Tomtit Farm, Te Awamutu & Cambridge; Direct from the Market, Cambridge, Ōhaupō, Te Awamutu and Kihikihi; and Foodtogether Cambridge.
Unpackaged chocolate/truffles/fudge/sweets – a few shops have sweet treats unpackaged that you can have put into your own containers:
Victoria Station, 55 Victoria Street, Cambridge – sweets & fudge
Dante’s Fine Foods, 61 Duke St, Cambridge – sweets and chocolate truffles unpackaged.
Look out for places that sell whole or ground coffee beans unpackaged, and bring your own bag and container to fill. Going direct to coffee roasters is the best option, but you can also look out for bulk dispensers of unpackaged coffee in other stores (which usually have in-store grinders also). Here are the spots we found that offer these options:
Bin Inn Te Awamutu, 170/13 George Street, Te Awamutu
Dante’s Fine Foods, 61 Duke St, Cambridge
Essenza coffee in your own jar (or in a resuable/refillable coffee tin) at Rouge Cafe, 11 Empire Street, Cambridge
We avoid teabags as most have plastic in them, which we don’t want in our tea or our soil. Using loose leaf tea is an easy way to get around this. The trick is to find somewhere that sells loose leaf tea packaging-free, so you can put the leaves straight into BYO jars/containers! You’ll find loose tea leaves in bulk dispensers at:
Thames Street Pantry, 258 Thames Street, Morrinsville
Bell‘s loose leaf tea is packaged only in 100% paper and cardboard and is readily available in most supermarkets, Four Squares and dairies.
Sourcing cow’s milk without the plastic bottles or non-dairy milk without the dreaded Tetra-pak is no mean feat! We’ve found the following options:
Milk on tap or from a vending machine – milk is available on tap from a vending machine at FOUR (!) locations: HumpBridge Milk, 161 Pokuru Road, just south of Te Awamutu; Alexander Organics, 133 Flume Road, Cambridge; and get Kaipaki Dairiesmilk (through an awesome keg reuse system) on tap at Freshchoice Te Awamutu, 39 Rewi St; and Fill Good, 29a Victoria Street, Cambridge. You can also get Kaipaki Dairies and Jersey Girl Organics milk on tap into BYO bottles at the Cambridge Farmers Market, Victoria Square, Cambridge – every Saturday from 8am-noon. Simply BYO bottle to fill up, or purchase a reusable glass bottle there that you can then refill on future occasions.
Milk delivery in reusable glass bottles – Dreamview Creameryhome delivers their milk in reusable glass bottles (just like the old days!), on Tuesdays in Te Awamutu, and Tamahere and Cambridge on Thursdays. Leave your empty bottles out on the next delivery day so they can be returned to Dreamview Creamery for sterilisation and refill. YAY!
Return & Refill glass bottle schemes – Dreamview Creamery & Kaipaki Dairies both sell milk in reusable glass bottles – you can get your hands on Dreamview at Four Square Pirongia, 900 Franklin Street, Pirongia; and Bin Inn Te Awamutu, 170/13 George Street, Te Awamutu; or Kaipaki at all of the locations on this map. How does the system work? The first time you buy a bottle of milk, you pay a little extra to cover the cost of the bottle and to ensure that you return it when you’re done. Return empty bottles to any stockist of the milk, and exchange it for a full bottle for only the price of the milk (or else get your deposit back). The empties are then returned to Dreamview & Kaipaki for sterilisation and reuse – so the bottles just go around and around – true zero waste!
Non-dairy milk – Forage, 21 Empire Street, Cambridge operates a glass bottle return system for their mylks, so that the bottles can be sterilised and reused in store. Each time you bring a bottle back you get a stamp, and with 10 stamps you get a free mylk.
Look out for places that sell beer on tap and BYO bottles/flagons to fill up. Breweries are awesome, but lots of liquor stores offer this option too! We found beer on tap at:
Good Union, 98 Victoria Street, Cambridge – stocks Good George beer on tap. BYO rigger/flagon/bottle!
Also, don’t forget that most liquor stores do ‘swappa crates’ of beer – i.e. crates of twelve 745ml bottles of classic NZ beer (e.g. Lion Red/Brown, Speights, Tui, Export Gold etc.) which can be returned (when the bottles are empty) and are then sent back to the brewery for sterilisation and refill (a better outcome for glass bottles than recycling because reusing the same bottle over and over requires way less energy and resources than recycling).
Drinking chocolate – get drinking chocolate and cocoa powder in bulk at Bin Inn Te Awamutu, 170/13 George Street, Te Awamutu
Juice – Forage, 21 Empire Street, Cambridge operates a glass bottle return system for their juices, so that the bottles can be sterilised and reused in store. Each time you bring a bottle back you get a stamp, and with 10 stamps you get a free juice.
Kombucha on tap – fill your own bottle at Fill Good, 29a Victoria Street, Cambridge
Reusable drinking vessels (cups and water bottles)
Say “no more” to disposable takeaway coffee cups and plastic water bottles by getting yourself reusables instead! Get reusable water bottles at Narrativ, 65 Alexandra Street, Te Awamutu (metal and ceramic); Ash Store/The Colab Store, 45 Alexandra St, Te Awamutu; Red Kitchen, 51 Mahoe Street, Te Awamutu; Leven, 33 Empire Street, Cambridge (metal); Fox & Co., 9 Albert Street, Cambridge; Simply Divine Kitchen, 5 Empire Street, Cambridge; Rumour, corner of Duke and Victoria Streets, Cambridge; Kodak & Black, 58 Arawa Street, Matamata; and Gifted, 34 Arawa Street, Matamata (metal).
There are heaps of places to buy reusable takeaway coffee cups in these districts:
Find the Keep Cupbrand at Crave, 24a Empire Street, Cambridge; Volare, 27 Empire Street, Cambridge; Rouge Cafe, 7 Empire Street, Cambridge; Paddock, 48 Victoria Street, Cambridge
The innovative Frank Green cups are sold at Leven, 33 Empire Street, Cambridge
Stainless steel cups are available at Gifted, 34 Arawa Street, Matamata; Simply Divine Kitchen, 5 Empire Street, Cambridge; and Thames Street Pantry, 258 Thames Street, Morrinsville.
Ceramic takeaway cups are sold at Narrativ, 65 Alexandra Street, Te Awamutu
Various other brands are available at Narrativ, 65 Alexandra Street, Te Awamutu; The Mirrorbox, 51 Alexandra St, Te Awamutu; and Strawbridge, 319 Alexandra St, Te Awamutu.
Reusable bags (shopping bags, produce bags and bulk bin bags)
Plastic shopping bags are a menace, but so too are those plastic produce bags for fruit and vege or the plastic bags often offered alongside bulk bins at bulk stores. You can avoid them by bringing your own bags or buying a set of reusable produce bags. You can get 100% cotton produce and/or bulk bin bags at Narrativ, 65 Alexandra Street, Te Awamutu; Leven, 33 Empire Street, Cambridge; FreshChoice Leamington, 46 Burns Street, Cambridge; ILuv Asian Store, 87 Arawa Street, Matamata; New World Matamata, 45 Waharoa Road East, Matamata; and Thames Street Pantry, 258 Thames Street, Morrinsville. Also, Fill Good, 29a Victoria Street, Cambridge; Vege Fresh, 35 Victoria Street, Cambridge; and Forage, 21 Empire Street, Cambridge both stock locally made produce bags out of second hand nets/fabric off-cuts by local groups such as Plastic Bag Free/Boomerang Bags Cambridge.
Reusable lunch boxes/containers
Reusable lunch boxes or containers are great to have on you when you’re out and about in case you want to get takeaways, to carry leftovers home with you, or if you find food to forage. You can get various stainless steel lunchboxes and food containers at Narrativ, 65 Alexandra Street, Te Awamutu; and Thames Street Pantry, 258 Thames Street, Morrinsville.
Reusable straws
Say “no straw thanks” next time you order a drink out and either use your mouth to drink, or get yourself a reusable metal straw instead. If you’re keen on a reusable metal straw, you can get them from Narrativ, 65 Alexandra Street, Te Awamutu (metal and silicone); Ash Store/The Colab Store, 45 Alexandra St, Te Awamutu; Fill Good, 29a Victoria Street, Cambridge; Forage, 21 Empire Street, Cambridge; Gifted, 34 Arawa Street, Matamata; and Thames Street Pantry, 258 Thames Street, Morrinsville.
Alternatives to plastic cling wrap, plastic sandwich bags and tin foil
Beeswax wrap
Purchase at – Narrativ, 65 Alexandra Street, Te Awamutu; Red Kitchen, 51 Mahoe Street, Te Awamutu; Hansen Honey, 700 Franklin Street, Pirongia; Fill Good, 29a Victoria Street, Cambridge; Forage, 21 Empire Street, Cambridge; Leven, 33 Empire Street, Cambridge; Dante’s Fine Foods, 61 Duke St, Cambridge; Comins Pharmacy, 67 Victoria Street, Cambridge; The Coffee Gallery, 101 Broadway, Matamata (locally made by Kauri); Wild Rose Interiors, 72 Arawa Street, Matamata (plastic wrapped); Gifted, 34 Arawa Street, Matamata; and Thames Street Pantry, 258 Thames Street, Morrinsville.
DIY – waaaaay cheaper! You just need natural fibre fabrics and unpackaged beeswax. You can get fabric offcuts and fat quarters from Patchworkweb, 83 Arawa Street, Matamata. Unpackaged beeswax is available at Hansen Honey, 700 Franklin Street, Pirongia
Reusable sandwich bags – Elephant Ollie, 4 Empire Street, Cambridge stocks their own brand of lunch pouches, as well as ones made by Munch; you can get Sachi lunch pockets at Gifted, 34 Arawa Street, Matamata.
Silicone pot/bowlcovers – a good option for storing leftovers in a bowl (other than just putting a plate on top!) or as an alternative to tin foil for roasting (as the covers can withstand temperatures of up to 220 degrees and will also keep hot food warm when transporting). You can buy these at Narrativ, 65 Alexandra Street, Te Awamutu; Simply Divine Kitchen, 5 Empire Street, Cambridge; and Gifted, 34 Arawa Street, Matamata.
Silicone freezer bags – reusable bags for freezing meat and other food are available at Narrativ, 65 Alexandra Street, Te Awamutu; and Fill Good, 29a Victoria Street, Cambridge – they’re pricey, but will last your lifetime and can replace soft plastics for freezing.
Refills of cleaning products
The following stores stock liquid and/or powdered cleaning products in bulk dispensers – BYO bottles/containers!
Bin Inn Te Awamutu, 170/13 George Street, Te Awamutu (chemical options and Ecostore)
Fill Good, 29a Victoria Street, Cambridge – stocks Little Foot liquid cleaning products – when the store’s bulk dispensers are empty, they are returned to Little Foot for refill, so there’s even less waste overall!
Forage, 21 Empire Street, Cambridge
Thames Street Pantry, 258 Thames Street, Morrinsville – stocks Little Foot liquid cleaning products – when the store’s bulk dispensers are empty, they are returned to Little Foot for refill, so there’s even less waste overall!
Low-waste dishwashing
You can find dishbrushes with wooden handles and removable + replaceable, home compostable heads at Narrativ, 65 Alexandra Street, Te Awamutu; Bin Inn Te Awamutu, 170/13 George Street, Te Awamutu; Forage, 21 Empire Street, Cambridge; Hus Design Store, 20 Empire Street, Cambridge; Simply Divine Kitchen, 5 Empire Street, Cambridge; and Thames Street Pantry, 258 Thames Street, Morrinsville.
You can also get handleless natural fibre veggie brushes (that can make good dish scrubbers) at Narrativ, 65 Alexandra Street, Te Awamutu; Fox & Co., 9 Albert Street, Cambridge; Hus Design Store, 20 Empire Street, Cambridge; Forage, 21 Empire Street, Cambridge; and Thames Street Pantry, 258 Thames Street, Morrinsville.
We also encourage people to move away from using dishclothes, sponges and bench wipes made out of synthetic material (as these leach microfibres and they’re also destined for landfill when they wear down) and to use natural fibre cloths instead:
For something more like a traditional dishcloth sponge, check out the SPRUCE or Wet-it! 100% cotton + cellulose dishcloth sponges (home compostable at the end of their life) which are available at Narrativ, 65 Alexandra Street, Te Awamutu; Red Kitchen, 51 Mahoe Street, Te Awamutu; Fill Good, 29a Victoria Street, Cambridge; Fox & Co., 9 Albert Street, Cambridge; Simply Divine Kitchen, 5 Empire Street, Cambridge; and Thames Street Pantry, 258 Thames Street, Morrinsville.
Get hand-knitted 100% cotton dishcloths at Forage, 21 Empire Street, Cambridge.
Nawrap Japanese made natural fibre blend dishcloths are sold at Fox & Co., 9 Albert Street, Cambridge
RedBerry Supermarket, 130 Broadway, Matamata stocks cheap 100% cotton dishcloths (they have a muslin type weave).
Fancy Bianca Lorenne or Wallace Cotton 100% cotton cloths are available at Simply Divine Kitchen, 5 Empire Street, Cambridge; Wallace Cotton, 16 Empire Street, Cambridge; and Wild Rose Interiors, 72 Arawa Street, Matamata.
Get scourers made of 100% luffa or sisal (both fibrous plants) and 100% coconut fibre at Narrativ, 65 Alexandra Street, Te Awamutu; and RedBerry Supermarket, 130 Broadway, Matamata.
Laundry
Eco Planetlaundry powder comes in a cardboard box with a cardboard scoop – no plastic lining! You can get it from New World Cambridge, 14 Anzac Street, Cambridge; New World Matamata, 45 Waharoa Road East, Matamata.
Soapnuts – a nut/berry that natural produces saponin so can be home composted once used up. Soapnuts NZsoapnuts come in a cardboard box with no plastic lining, which you can get at Bin Inn Te Awamutu, 170/13 George Street, Te Awamutu. You can also get That Red House soapberries, which come in a brown paper bag inside a cotton bag, at ILuv Asian Store, 87 Arawa Street, Matamata. Forget Me Not Florist, 50 Arawa Street, Matamata stocks soapnuts in cotton bags.
Laundry soap bars – get Ethique and Global Soap laundry soaps, inluding stain removing bars, at Narrativ, 65 Alexandra Street, Te Awamutu.
Metal or bamboo alternatives to plastic clothes pegs – Narrativ, 65 Alexandra Street, Te Awamutu; Fill Good, 29a Victoria Street, Cambridge; Forage, 21 Empire Street, Cambridge; New World Matamata, 45 Waharoa Road East, Matamata; and Thames Street Pantry, 258 Thames Street, Morrinsville.
Ingredients for DIY cleaning products
Baking soda, epsom salts, borax, washing soda, white vinegar – some or all of these products are available unpackaged in bulk bins at Bin Inn Te Awamutu, 170/13 George Street, Te Awamutu; and Thames Street Pantry, 258 Thames Street, Morrinsville.
Bars of castile soap, which you can use as a base for homemade dishwashing and laundry liquid (see how it works here) – get locally made unpackaged castile dish soap bars at Narrativ, 65 Alexandra Street, Te Awamutu (they also sell soap shakers if you can’t be bothered making liquid!). Also get the Dr Bronner’sbrand (made in USA) at Bin Inn Te Awamutu, 170/13 George Street, Te Awamutu.
Zero waste teeth and mouth
Bamboo toothbrushes – a great alternative to plastic toothbrushes because they have wooden, home compostable handles (though bristles are still plastic and need to be removed from the handle and put in a rubbish bin). You can find bamboo toothbrushes at Narrativ, 65 Alexandra Street, Te Awamutu; Bin Inn Te Awamutu, 170/13 George Street, Te Awamutu; Fill Good, 29a Victoria Street, Cambridge; Forage, 21 Empire Street, Cambridge; The Little Flower Shop, 88 Duke Street, Cambridge; Health 2000, 70A Victoria Street, Cambridge (Mama Bear brand); Four Square Shakespeare Street, 173 Shakespeare Street, Cambridge; New World Matamata, 45 Waharoa Road East, Matamata (you’ll find these in the ‘organic’ section of the supermarket, not with the other toothbrushes… *sigh*); Villa Nine – Organic Health Shop, 9 Lawrence Avenue, Te Aroha; and Thames Street Pantry, 258 Thames Street, Morrinsville.
Dental Floss
Narrativ, 65 Alexandra Street, Te Awamutu; and all Countdown supermarkets stock Do Gooderfloss, which comes in a refillable glass tube with a screw on metal lid. The WHITE floss is made of 100% silk and is home compostable (the black floss has polyester in it so is landfill only). When you run out of the floss, no need to get a new dispenser, you can get refills of the floss in a cardboard box direct from Do Gooder, or also at Narrativ.
For a vegan option, you can also get compostable plastic PLA floss from Thames Street Pantry, 258 Thames Street, Morrinsville. PLA is usually commercially compostable only, but seeing as floss is so small it might be worth a try in your home compost…
Unpackaged Bars of Soap
It’s easy to get soap without packaging in these districts. The following stores sell totally naked bars of soap:
Bin Inn Te Awamutu, 170/13 George Street, Te Awamutu
Forage, 21 Empire Street, Cambridge
Health 2000, 70A Victoria Street, Cambridge
Wayne’s, 66 Victoria Street, Cambridge
Gifted, 34 Arawa Street, Matamata
Thames Street Pantry, 258 Thames Street, Morrinsville
Joe’s Health Foods, 225 Thames Street, Morrinsville
Bars for Shampoo/Shaving/Deodorant/Moisturiser
We’d encourage you to get your everyday toiletries – from shampoo through to shaving soap – in bar form, which means you totally avoid the plastic/aluminium bottles that liquid products usually come in!
The popular Ethique range which includes shampoo bars, conditioner bars, shaving bars, deodorant bars, moisturiser bars, etc. (all of Ethique‘s bars come in home compostable packaging), is available at Narrativ, 65 Alexandra Street, Te Awamutu; Unichem Cambridge Pharmacy, 52 Victoria Street, Cambridge
Get a range of cardboard packaged solid shampoo and toiletries in bar or tube form from brands like Fair + Square, EverKind, Dr Bob’s, Raw Nature, Be Kind,Simple Naked Soap, Dirty Hippie, Bee Fresh, Mia Belle and more at Bin Inn Te Awamutu, 170/13 George Street, Te Awamutu; Narrativ, 65 Alexandra Street, Te Awamutu; Fill Good, 29a Victoria Street, Cambridge; and Thames Street Pantry, 258 Thames Street, Morrinsville.
More options – Simple Naked Soap shampoo bars are sold at Forage, 21 Empire Street, Cambridge and Thames Street Pantry, 258 Thames Street, Morrinsville;Valor shaving soap (in cardboard) is sold at Hus Design Store, 20 Empire Street, Cambridge; Wayne’s, 66 Victoria Street, Cambridge also stocks Global Soap shampoo bars.
Shaving
Avoid plastic shavers that are designed to be disposable and go for 100% metal razors that will last you decades and only require the 100% metal and recyclable blades to be replaced (or sharpened with a leather strop!), and remember to use a bar of shaving soap instead of shaving foam that comes in an aerosol can (see above) – note, you’ll need a shaving brush to make this work. You can get razors, blades, shaving brushes AND Global Soap shower/shampoo/shaving bars at Narrativ, 65 Alexandra Street, Te Awamutu; and Wayne’s, 66 Victoria Street, Cambridge. You can get just shaving brushes at Hus Design Store, 20 Empire Street, Cambridge (and shaving soap bars to go with it); Leven, 33 Empire Street, Cambridge; Life Pharmacy Matamata, 54 Arawa Street, Matamata.
Reusable Menstrual Products
Menstrual cups – available at Narrativ, 65 Alexandra Street, Te Awamutu; FreshChoice Leamington, 46 Burns Street, Cambridge; Unichem Leamington Pharmacy, 129 Shakespeare Street, Cambridge
Reusable pads & period undies – undies available at Kids Collection, 46 Alexandra Street, Te Awamutu; and both pads and undies available at Narrativ, 65 Alexandra Street, Te Awamutu; and Fill Good, 29a Victoria Street, Cambridge.
Liquid Toiletries on Tap
The following stores sell liquid toiletries on tap for refill (BYO bottles!):
Fill Good, 29a Victoria Street, Cambridge – stocks Little Foot liquid toiletries – when the store’s bulk dispensers are empty, they are returned to Little Foot for refill, so there’s even less waste overall!
Forage, 21 Empire Street, Cambridge
Thames Street Pantry, 258 Thames Street, Morrinsville – also stocks Little Foot!
Other
Cotton Buds – Go Bamboo makes home compostable buds so you can avoid the single-use, unrecyclable plastic ones. Get them from Bin Inn Te Awamutu, 170/13 George Street, Te Awamutu; Narrativ, 65 Alexandra Street, Te Awamutu; Fill Good, 29a Victoria Street, Cambridge; Forage, 21 Empire Street, Cambridge; Villa Nine – Organic Health Shop, 9 Lawrence Avenue, Te Aroha; and Thames Street Pantry, 258 Thames Street, Morrinsville
Toilet Paper – get rolls of Smartass TP, packaging in compostable tissue paper, at Thames Street Pantry, 258 Thames Street, Morrinsville.
REUSE AND RECYCLE
Food waste and composting – food waste in a bin gets sent to landfill where it breaks down anaerobically, producing methane (a potent greenhouse gas). No! Having a composting, worm farm or bokashi bin system at home is the best and cheapest way to deal with your food scraps. If you’d like help setting one up or working out what the best system would be for you, did you know that the Waipa District Council has info about getting composting and worm farming going on their website and they intermittently offer free workshops on composting and worm-farming too – so keep an eye out!
E-waste – electronic waste is the world’s fastest growing waste stream, with huge environmental implications because of the toxins that can be leached from this waste, but also the loss of incredibly precious resources embedded in these items that are not recovered when the waste is dumped in landfill.
Repair: Rather than throwing you broken electronics out – have you considered trying to get them repaired first? You could pay someone to do it or look out for Repair or Fix-itCafes where experts donate their time to fix people’s broken items for free at a designated repair event (usually run by community centres, churches or councils). For example, check out The Repair Co-op Cambridge, Meraki Workspace, 32 Victoria Street, Cambridge, 2nd Sunday of the Month – on the 2nd Sunday of every month (i.e. the day of the Trash ‘n’ Treasure Market).
Recycle:If your electronics really have given up the ghost, rather than chucking them out, take them to be recycled responsibly. The nearest spots to Waipa and Matamata-Piako where you can take your e-waste to be recycled or disposed of more safely are Go Eco, SWAC or Xtreme Zero Waste.
ZERO WASTE INFORMATION AND SUPPORT NETWORKS
Mainstream Green – the brainchild of Cambridge local, Nic Turner, Mainstream Green works with individuals, businesses and councils to create behaviour change based around reduced consumption and waste reduction. Nic runs regular workshops (in Waipa and nationwide!) that you can attend for excellent tips, tricks and insights for reducing your waste at home. She also runs Zero Waste Home tours, in which she opens her home up for two hours so attendees can see zero waste in action – how awesome! Nic also has really handy resources on her site for anyone to peruse.
Plastic Bag Free Cambridge – a local Cambridge group striving to rid Cambridge of plastic bags. You can find permanent bag stands for their locally-sewn reusable shopping bags at Cambridge New World, Leamington Fresh Choice Supermarket, and outside Wholly Cow.) You can even find their affordable handmade fabric alternatives to plastic produce bags (made from second hand net) at VegeFresh, 35 Victoria Street, Cambridgeand Forage, 21 Empire Street, Cambridge.
Transition Matamata – Though not focused on zero waste, this lively branch of the Transition Town movement has run waste-related workshops and advocated for policies, such as bottle deposits, which would reduce beverage container waste. A great group to learn more, get together with others who care about issues, including waste, and share information.
SHARE AND EXCHANGE/SKILLS AND RESILIENCE IN COMMUNITIES
Toy Libraries – reduce the wasteful over-consumption of toys and save money by joining a toy library! Check out this guide to find the nearest Toy Library to you.
Menzshed– there are Menzsheds throughout Auckland. Menzshed provides a great opportunity for men of all ages to share tools and a workspace (reducing the wasteful overduplication of these resources) and to pass on skills of woodworking and other trades. Menzsheds frequently offer communities the service of repairing broken items like furniture (at a small cost), work with upcycled material that might otherwise go to waste, and also create bespoke items for community and charitable purposes. Definitely look up your local!
The Sharing Shed, Anzac Green, Te Awamutu; and now in Pirongia too at the Community Centre, 574 Croier Street – a truly wonderful gem in the centre of Te Awamutu (and now in Pirongia too), started by Shaun and Sarah O’Dea. Standing in Anzac Green all day, everyday, the idea is that anyone can come down and drop off either produce or a book for someone else to take, for free! Likewise, anyone can take something they fancy. You don’t have to drop something off every time you pick something up – there are no formalities. The wonderful art of sharing means that excess produce doesn’t go to waste. Furthermore, items can be shared without excessive amounts of packaging. The Sharing Shed is also collaborating with local group Snip & Tuck Ltd to sew reusable alternatives to plastic shopping bags – yay! If you’d like to be involved, look out for their sewing bee ‘Share ‘n Sew’ events, which anyone is free to attend. We loved The Sharing Shed and think that every community across New Zealand should have one!
Community gardens and urban growing –growing your own food is an excellent way to get food without packaging. Community gardens help people to learn how to grow food, and also to compost/worm farm, and you can take home some of the goodies too! For example, check out Cambridge Community Garden, 2a Vogel Street (this garden evens distributes excess produce to those in need).
Crop Swaps – Crop Swaps are taking NZ by storm and there are two in Waipa District, yus! At a crop swap, individuals who have veges or seedlings they’ve grown, preserves or baking they’ve made (or similar), or even home-made knitting/crochet (etc.) crafts (anything made or grown by your hands), come together once a fortnight or once a month, to trade their offerings without any money changing hands – all free! Just bring something to share and let the swapping begin! Trading homegrown or home created goodies with friends and locals means you can avoid all that packaging that often comes with a store setting. You can also have friendly chats about how to share goods without the waste. Details are:
Crop Swap Te Awamutu, Downes St Community Centre Mahuika House, 114 Downes Street (3rd Saturday of each month, 2pm)
Crop Swap Cambridge, Senior Citizens Association Hall, Milicich Place (4th Saturday of the month, 1pm)
Lions Trash ‘n’ Treasure Market, Cambridge CBD, 8am-1pm, 2nd Sunday of the Month – get a wide array of pre-loved or handmade products, produce and plants at this monthly market.
The Repair Co-op Cambridge, Meraki Workspace, 32 Victoria Street, Cambridge, 2nd Sunday of the Month – electronics are NZ’s fastest growing waste stream – household goods can break easily and then we can be hesitant to repair them because we don’t know how or because it seems too expensive to get them fixed. Enter The Repair Co-op Cambridge, a group that is passionate about helping people to repair their valued possessions. On the 2nd Sunday of every month (i.e. the day of the Trash ‘n’ Treasure Market), find them in the Meraki Workspace, helping people fix broken electronics and machines – so if you’ve got some broken equipment, rather than biffing it out, bring it along to the workspace and you’ll receive tips and pointers for self-repair. Yay! The group is also always looking for handy people who know how to fix things to come and help out, or share tools and other equipment.
Hello! Plastic Bag Free Cambridge here. From the 10th February, there will be permanent bag stands at Cambridge New World, Leamington Fresh Choice supermarket, and outside Wholly Cow. These will be stocked with shopping bags made from second hand or off-cut fabrics. There are always produce bags available at Cambridge Vege Fresh and Forage in Cambridge, for $2 each, made from second hand nets.
Kia ora Sam! Thanks for letting us know. We will update the regional guide accordingly. Awesome mahi you are doing in Cambridge. So lovely to hear from you. Hope that the new stands are going well on their first day today 🙂 Great that you are doing produce bags too (they’re the next frontier after the shopping bags, we reckon). Ngā mihi, H & L
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Hello! Plastic Bag Free Cambridge here. From the 10th February, there will be permanent bag stands at Cambridge New World, Leamington Fresh Choice supermarket, and outside Wholly Cow. These will be stocked with shopping bags made from second hand or off-cut fabrics. There are always produce bags available at Cambridge Vege Fresh and Forage in Cambridge, for $2 each, made from second hand nets.
Kia ora Sam! Thanks for letting us know. We will update the regional guide accordingly. Awesome mahi you are doing in Cambridge. So lovely to hear from you. Hope that the new stands are going well on their first day today 🙂 Great that you are doing produce bags too (they’re the next frontier after the shopping bags, we reckon). Ngā mihi, H & L