Zero Waste in Wanaka & Hawea

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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!

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!

• The Butcher’s Block & Smokehouse, 33 Reece Crescent, Wanaka – this butcher is happy to put unpackaged meat from the deli into BYO containers – woo!
• Mediterranean Market, 20 Ardmore Street, Wanaka – at the deli the staff are more than happy to put any of the deli food straight into your own container, from meats, to cheese off the round, through to antipasto.
• Wholefood Haven, 24 Dungarvon Street, Wanaka – stocks Holy Cow yoghurt, cream and ghee (also milk, see below) which comes in glass jars that are reusable (you pay a little extra the first time you buy the product, which is a bottle/jar deposit, you then bring your empties back to Wholefood Haven and they get returned to Holy Cow for sterilisation and reuse! You either get the deposit back or simply don’t need to pay it again when you buy your next full jar!). This store stocks butter in home compostable grease-proof paper.
• Unpackaged live mussels – there are a few stores around town 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 Wanaka, 20 Dunmore Street, Wanaka.
• Supermarket delis – Most supermarkets have a deli section offering unpackaged meat, seafood, olives and other antipasti, salads, lunch foods and more. All Countdown supermarkets officially allow you to BYO container for these goods! Most Fresh Choice supermarkets allow this also. Watch this space for when New World and PAK’nSAVE extend this practice to the South Island…

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The following stores bake and/or 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).

• Adam & Eves, 54 Reece Crescent, Wanaka
• The People’s Bread Co. – sell their delicious loaves of bread unpackaged (BYO bag!) at the Wanaka Artisan Market, every Thursday from 3pm-6pm
• Wholefood Haven, 24 Dungarvon Street
• Mediterranean Market, 20 Ardmore Street, Wanaka
• Wanaka Food and Produce Market, Sir Tim Wallis Drive, Wanaka
• Freshlink Grocer, 82 Anderson Road, Wanaka – ask to have it unpackaged (if it isn’t already) and BYO bread bag
• Most supermarkets (and even some Four Squares) stock unpackaged bread, bread rolls and/or bakery goods in their bakery section – just pop them into your BYO bags!

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• 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. At markets 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. Often the answer is yes! Check out Wanaka Food and Produce Market, every Wednesday from 12noon-3pm outside Wanaka Recreation Centre, Sir Tim Wallis Drive, and Wanaka Artisan Market, every Thursday from 3pm-6pm – there’s nothing like going along to your local market to find packaging-free food and also all kinds of other local creations (for even more links to local food, check out Local Food Wanaka)!
• Trade Aid – Trade Aid‘s 1.5kg sugar bags are also great for upcycling as bulk bin bags, and are home compostable once they do wear out. You can get the sugar from New World Wanaka, 20 Dunmore Street, Wanaka.

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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:

• Local microroaster See Crow Fly does home deliveries of their yummy coffee and they are happy to use your own containers to deliver to you in!! So just get in touch with them to organise zero waste coffee to your doorstep 😀
• Patagonia, 155 Ardmore Street, Wanaka – roasts their own coffee – obviously they hadn’t been asked before, but seemed OK with putting the freshly roasted, unpackaged coffee beans or grinds straight into BYO containers.
• Get West Coast roasted Kawatiri Coffee into your own containers through Honest Wholefood Co.
• Freshlink Grocer, 82 Anderson Road, Wanaka

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:

• Freshlink Grocer, 82 Anderson Road, Wanaka
• Soul Food Organic, 74 Ardmore Street
• Wholefood Haven, 24 Dungarvon Street – stocks the wonderful Heke Homemade Herbals tea
• Honest Wholefood Co. – stocks looseleaf tea by Kerikeri Tea

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:

• Return & Refill glass bottle scheme – there are THREE options for milk in reusable glass bottles in Wanaka: Holy Cow milk, yoghurt, cream and ghee from Wholefood Haven, 24 Dungarvon Street, and Freshlink Grocer, 82 Anderson Road; Farm Fresh South at Freshlink Grocer, 82 Anderson Road, and Soul Food Organic, 74 Ardmore Street, Wanaka; and Windy Ridge Farm from Wholefood Haven, Wanaka Night ‘n Day, 80 Ardmore Street, Wanaka, or through Honest Wholefood Co.
  • 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 either Holy Cow, Windy Ridge or The Natural Dairy for sterilisation and reuse – so the bottles just go around and around – true zero waste!

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:

• Ground Up Brewing, 4 Gordon Road, Wanaka
• Rhyme & Reason Brewery, 17 Gordon Road, Wanaka.
• The Bottle-O Wanaka, 1 Ardmore Street (mix of craft and non-craft beer on tap)
• Pembroke Wines and Spirits, 24 Dungarvon Street, Wanaka sells Emerson’s beer on tap too.

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).

• Kefir – at the Wanaka Artisan Market, check out Revive Sparkling Water Kefir, who sell kefir in reusable glass bottles (simple return your empties for sterilisation and refill – you’ll get a deposit back if you do this!)

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 metal water bottles at Kitz Design, 35 Helwick Street; Simply New Zealand, 3 Helwick Street; Wonder Room, 80 Ardmore Street; Wilson & Dorset, 53 Helwick Street; Health 2000 Wanaka, 24 Helwick Street; Outdoor Sports, 23 Dunmore Street; Cardrona Corner, 26 Helwick Street; and The Central Store, 40 Reece Crescent. Find reusable glass water bottles at Gifted Design Store, 19 Helwick Street.

There are heaps of places to buy reusable takeaway coffee cups in Wanaka:

• Get the NZ-made Cuppa Coffee Cup at Originz, Pembroke Mall, 139 Ardmore Street; Paper Plus, 23 Helwick Street; and Simply New Zealand, 3 Helwick Street.
• The glass brands Keep Cup, Joco and Sol at Wonder Room, 80 Ardmore Street; Big Fig, 105 Ardmore Street; Cardrona Corner, 26 Helwick Street; Fedeli, 47 Helwick Street; Wilson & Dorset, 53 Helwick Street; and Gifted Design Store, 19 Helwick Street.
• Get the very leak proof Frank Green cups at Wonder Room, 80 Ardmore Street.
• Pottery for the Planet ceramic cups are sold at Wilson & Dorset, 53 Helwick Street.
• Bamboo fibre composite cups are sold at Kitz Design, 35 Helwick Street; Kaleidoscope, 44 Helwick Street; Paper Plus, 23 Helwick Street; and The Central Store, 40 Reece Crescent
• Beautiful local stainless steel Wanakup reusable cups are sold at Big Fig, 105 Ardmore Street.
• Other stainless steel cups are sold at Outdoor Sports, 23 Dunmore Street; and Thieving Kea, 139 Ardmore Street.

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. Get Meals in Steel lunchboxes/containers at Fedeli, 47 Helwick Street. You can get reusable cutlery kits/wraps at Wonder Room, 80 Ardmore Street

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 get yourself Rethink 100% organic cotton produce and bulk bin bags at Wholefood Haven, 24 Dungarvon Street; Wonder Room, 80 Ardmore Street; and Sailz Lake General Store, 33 Cappell Avenue, Hawea.

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 metal straws that are MADE IN WANAKA from Metalworks Wanaka, 54 Ballantyne Road, Wanaka – the straws are even upcycled (made out of upcycled old food-grade stainless steel dairy pipes). You can also get metal straws from Soul Food Organic, 74 Ardmore Street; Wonder Room, 80 Ardmore Street; Health 2000 Wanaka, 24 Helwick Street; Fedeli, 47 Helwick Street; Wilson & Dorset, 53 Helwick Street; and Gifted Design Store, 19 Helwick Street.

Alternatives to plastic cling wrap, plastic sandwich bags and tin foil

• Reusable sandwich bags – You can find locally-made reusable snack bags at the Remarkabubz stall at the Wanaka Artisan Market.
• Beeswax wrap –
  • Purchase at – Wonder Room, 80 Ardmore Street; Mediterranean Market, 20 Ardmore Street; Soul Food Organic, 74 Ardmore Street; Originz, Pembroke Mall, 139 Ardmore Street; Health 2000 Wanaka, 24 Helwick Street; Fedeli, 47 Helwick Street; The Workroom, 75 Brownston Street; Wholefood Haven, 24 Dungarvon Street; and New World Wanaka, 20 Dunmore Street. You can also find locally-made beeswax wraps at the Remarkabubz stall at the Wanaka Artisan Market.
  • DIY (waaaay cheaper) – You just need natural fibre fabric (cotton) and unpackaged beeswax. Wanaka Wastebusters, corner of Ballantyne Road and Riverbank Road, is a great spot to forage for offcuts of cotton fabric.
• Silicone pot/bowl covers – these covers form a vacuum seal over whatever pot/bowl/tray they’re placed over and they can withstand heat up to 220 degrees. So they’re 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. Find at Kaleidoscope, 44 Helwick Street, and in a range of different shapes and sizes at Kitz Design, 35 Helwick Street

Refills of cleaning products

You can get your own bottles filled with Little Foot cleaning products through Honest Wholefood Co.  (Little Foot are awesome because they take back the bulk dispensers they supply Honest Wholefood Co with and refill them so they can be reused repeatedly!)

Alternatively, the following stores stock liquid and/or powdered cleaning products in bulk dispensers – BYO bottles/containers!

• Freshlink Grocer, 82 Anderson Road
• Soul Food Organic, 74 Ardmore Street (Earthwise products)
• Wholefood Haven, 24 Dungarvon Street – (Earthwise, Ecostore and Little Foot products – while Earthwise and Ecostore don’t take their bulk containers back, Little Foot does and the bulk containers are refilled once empty (yay!), so really zero waste! BYO bottles/containers to fill up.)

Low-waste dishwashing

You can find dishbrushes with wooden handles and removable + replaceable, home compostable heads at Freshlink Grocer, 82 Anderson Road; Wonder Room, 80 Ardmore Street; and Wholefood Haven, 24 Dungarvon Street, or through Honest Wholefood Co.. Also get veggie brushes with plant fibre bristles at Soul Food Organic, 74 Ardmore Street; and Wholefood Haven – these can also be used as a dish scrubber, and are both home compostable too.

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:

• You’ll find Spruce or Wet-It! 100% cotton/cellulose dishcloths (which are home compostable at the end of their life) at Wholefood Haven, 24 Dungarvon Street.
• You can also get the fancy Bianca Lorenne 100% cotton cloths at The Workroom, 75 Brownston Street; and Gifted Design Store, 19 Helwick Street.
• Other 100% natural fibre cloths are sold at Freshlink Grocer, 82 Anderson Road; Originz, Pembroke Mall, 139 Ardmore Street; and Cardrona Corner, 26 Helwick Street.
• If you’re after a scourer, check out the 100% home compostable Safix coconut fibre scourers that are available at Wholefood Haven, 24 Dungarvon Street.

If you’d like to use a dish soap bar instead of liquid dishwash, a bar created by Bake Naked Soap, is available through Honest Wholefood Co.

Laundry

• Eco Planet, Next Generation and Earthwise 1kg laundry powder all come in a cardboard box with no inner plastic lining, and Eco Planet’s scoop is made of cardboard while Earthwise has no scoop at all. You can get all three from New World Wanaka, 20 Dunmore Street; and just Earthwise at Soul Food Organic, 74 Ardmore Street; and Four Square Wanaka, 70 Ardmore Street.
• Non-plastic clothes pegs – Go Bamboo pegs available at Soul Food Organic, 74 Ardmore Street.

Ingredients for DIY cleaning products

• Baking soda/washing soda – Wholefood Haven, 24 Dungarvon Street stocks unpackaged baking and washing soda in bulk bins – BYO bags/containers.
• Bars of castile soap, which you can use as a base for homemade dishwashing and laundry liquid (see how it works here) – get NZ made Clean Earth bars of castile soap at Soul Food Organic, 74 Ardmore Street; or US-made Dr Bronner’s castile soap at Wholefood Haven, 24 Dungarvon Street.

Bamboo Toothbrushes

A great alternative to plastic toothbrushes because they have wooden, home compostable handles (bristles are still plastic and need to be removed from the handle and put in your rubbish bin). Get from Freshlink Grocer, 82 Anderson Road; New World Wanaka, 20 Dunmore Street; Wholefood Haven, 24 Dungarvon Street; Soul Food Organic, 74 Ardmore Street; Health 2000 Wanaka, 24 Helwick Street; and Aspiring Pharmacy, 29 Helwick Street.

You can also get toothpaste in reusable glass jars at Freshlink Grocer, 82 Anderson Road.

Unpackaged bars of Soap

The following stores sell totally naked bars of soap:

• Wholefood Haven, 24 Dungarvon Street – Ecostore and locally-made Bare Naked Soap (see below)
• Soul Food Organic, 74 Ardmore Street
• Freshlink Grocer, 82 Anderson Road
• Originz, Pembroke Mall, 139 Ardmore Street
• Cardrona Corner, 26 Helwick Street
• The Workroom, 75 Brownston Street
• Kaleidoscope, 44 Helwick Street
• Bare Naked Soap – locally made soap bars by Kirstin of Hawea Flat come bare naked! Find Kirstin and her gorgeous soaps at one of the local markets in the district, contact her through her website or FB to order and arrange a pick-up to save on postage waste 😉

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!

• You can get the popular Ethique range of soap bars (including bars for shampoo, conditioner, deodorant and shaving) from Health 2000 Wanaka, 24 Helwick Street; Wholefood Haven, 24 Dungarvon Street; and Aspiring Pharmacy, 29 Helwick Street (all of Ethique‘s bars come in home compostable packaging).
• Bare Naked Soap shampoo and facial cleansing bars – locally-made in Hawea by Kirstin! In her range of soaps, Kirstin also makes shampoo and special face cleansing bars, which of course come bare naked 😀 Find Kirstin and her gorgeous, low-waste soaps at Wholefood Haven, 24 Dungarvon Street, Originz, Pembroke Mall, 139 Ardmore Street or through Honest Wholefood Co.; one of the local markets in the district; or contact her through her website or FB to order and arrange a pick-up to save on postage waste 😉
• Other varieties of shampoo, conditioner and other bars are available at Freshlink Grocer, 82 Anderson Road Soul Food Organic, 74 Ardmore Street; Wholefood Haven, 24 Dungarvon Street; Originz, Pembroke Mall, 139 Ardmore Street; Wonder Room, 80 Ardmore Street.
• Nature Body – this Kerikeri business makes a range of toiletries that they package in home compostable cardboard tubes, from deodorant, to lip balm and even sunscreen. Get from Soul Food Organic, 74 Ardmore Street; and Wholefood Haven, 24 Dungarvon Street. Wholefood Haven also stocks No.8 brand of deodorant in cardboard tubes.

Reusable Menstrual Products

There are zero waste, low cost alternatives to disposable sanitary items like tampons and pads. You can buy both menstrual cups and washable pads at Wholefood Haven, 24 Dungarvon Street. You can also get menstrual cups at Soul Food Organic, 74 Ardmore Street; Health 2000 Wanaka, 24 Helwick Street; Aspiring Pharmacy, 29 Helwick Street; Unichem Wanaka Pharmacy, 41 Helwick Street; and New World Wanaka, 20 Dunmore Street.

Shaving

Avoid plastic shavers that are designed to be disposable and go for 100% metal/stainless steel razors that will last you decades and only require the 100% metal and recyclable blades to be replaced (or sharpened with a leather strop!). Blade refills are usually sold in cardboard boxes (no plastic). Ask at Ali Barbers, 71 Ardmore Street if they can order you in a safety razor and blades (most barbers are happy to do this). And remember, when shaving, use a bar of shaving soap instead of shaving foam that comes in an aerosol can. You’ll might want a shaving brush for application of the soap.

Liquid Toiletries on Tap

Other

• Toilet Paper – there are two brands we know of that package their toilet paper in home-compostable packaging – Smart Ass and Greencane. You can buy Greencane from Soul Food Organic, 74 Ardmore Street or through Honest Wholefood Co.  Otherwise, both Smart Ass and Greencane toilet paper can be ordered online for delivery. The Central Store, 40 Reece Crescent, also stocks individual rolls of toilet paper wrapped only in home compostable paper.
• Cotton buds – find Go Bamboo home compostable cotton buds at Wholefood Haven, 24 Dungarvon Street, Soul Food Organic, 74 Ardmore Street, and New World Wanaka, 20 Dunmore Street.

Reuse, Repair 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! Here are some alternatives:
  • Home composting/worm farms/bokashi – 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, you could ask a neighbour or friend to help you set up a compost,  or you could go to a workshop run by the legendary Dr Compost who runs semi-regular workshops throughout Queenstown-Lakes District. Or, you might want to purchase a worm farm or bokashi bin – you can get subsidised bokashi bins from Queenstown-Lakes District Council offices and Wanaka Wastebusters, or a subsidised batch of worms from Central Wormworx, Cromwell.
  • Greenwaste – Don’t forget about greenwaste too, which also doesn’t belong in landfill. You can drop greenwaste off for a small fee, to be mulched rather than landfilled, at the Wanaka Green Waste Facility, corner of Riverbank and Ballentyne Roads, Wanaka. There are also community-run green waste facilities in Glenorchy, Kingston, Lake Hawea, Luggate and Makarora.
• E-waste – electronic waste is the world’s fastest growing waste stream, with huge environmental implications because of the toxins this waste leaches, 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 your 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-it Cafes 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. Wastebusters is looking into running some, so keep your eyes peeled!
  • Recycle – If your electronics really have given up the ghost, rather than chucking them out, take them to Wanaka Wastebusters, corner Riverbank and Ballentyne Road, Wanaka, for recycling and safe disposal (a small fee will be payable for the processing of the electronics for recycling).
• Wanaka Wastebusters, corner Riverbank and Ballentyne Road, Wanaka – Wanaka Wastebusters is a total institution, long recognised as one of the leading community recyclers in the country. You can drop off a huge range of recyclables here and the care they take with the recycling means it’s likely to go to better recycling outcomes than what’s collected at kerbside. Apart from a drop-off for household recycling, you can also drop-off more unusual items, from batteries through to e-waste, textiles, and building materials and other hardware. The range of things the community can drop-off also makes Wastebusters a GREAT place to get your magpie on and scavenge some real treasures. The on-site re-use shop is excellent, very well-stocked, making it a perfect place to find secondhand items rather than buying them new. If you’re wanting a new appliance or gadget, new toys or bikes, or if you’re undertaking a craft, building or home maker project and need some wood off-cuts, scrap metal, bolts, nuts or other building equipment, go to Wastebusters before you go anywhere else – you’ll be amazed at what you can find, at super low prices.
• Metalworks Wanaka, 54 Ballantyne Road, Wanaka – have you got an item made of metal that’s broken and needs fixing? You don’t need to chuck it out and get a new one, you can take it to Metalworks Wanaka and they can fix it for you! From coffee plungers through to tools, if it’s metal, Metalworks can fix it. Metalworks are also more than happy to make bespoke metal items for you (remember those metal cages for bars of dishsoap? Metalworks can make one of those for you!) They’re even upcycling old food-grade stainless steel dairy pipes into reusable metal straws (so if you’re keen on a reusable metal straw, ask Metalworks Wanaka! In their own practices and work, Metalworks repairs and repurposes as much of their own materials as possible (and source as much material as possible from local and regional recycling centres), and they finish their work with as much biodegradeable materials as possible. We think they’re an excellent local business to support, and they’re keen to make items for us that encourage waste reduction (they even say so on their website) – so definitely check them out!

Zero Waste Information and Support Networks

• Plastic Bag Free Wanaka – an amazing community group leading the charge on plastic-free living in Wanaka, providing heaps of useful information, tips, tricks and inspiration for going plastic-free. The group runs events and information sessions focused on waste reduction, for example, for Plastic Free July, and provides heaps of advice to help locals (and people elsewhere!) reduce plastic use. For example, for hilarious, bite-size snippets of plastic-free wonder, check out Plastic Free Paula, created by Anna van Riel, the founder of Plastic Bag Free Wanaka. The group also sells beautiful alternatives to single-use plastic items, including very attractive reusable bags.
• SUC Free Wanaka – a campaign to make Wanaka single-use cup free by 2022! The group offers excellent resources and practical support for individuals, businesses and organisations alike who wish to go SUC Free!

Share and Exchange

• Toy Libraries – reduce the wasteful over-consumption of toys and save money by joining a toy library! Check out this list of toy libraries in Central Otago-Southern Lakes to find the nearest one to you!
• Menzshed – 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 create bespoke items for community and charitable purposes. Definitely look up your local – there’s a Menzshed group in Arrowtown.