Zero Waste in Hawke’s Bay

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!Meat

• The Organic Farm Butchery, 300 Eastbourne Street, Hastings – if you call in advance, you can drop off a container (a day or so in advance) to have unpackaged meat put into.
• The Bald Butcher, 403 Riverslea Road North, Hastings – BYO container OK, as long as it’s not glass
• Holly Bacon, corner of Warren & St Aubyn Streets, Hastings – will put unpackaged bacon in your own container
• Waipawa Butchery, 4 Joll Road, Havelock North; and 72 High Street, Waipawa – very happy to accept BYO containers
• Gourmeats, 6 Donnelly Street, Havelock North – everything in the deli is prewrapped, but certain products are still unwrapped out back and can be put into BYO containers. But for example, the lamb products are processed and packaged offsite.
• Clive Butchery, 189 Main Road, Clive
• Taradale Quality Meats, 294 Gloucester Street, Taradale

Seafood

• Hawkes Bay Seafoods, 916 Heretaunga Street West, Hastings – fresh fish and seafood
• Pak’NSave Hastings, 602 Heretaunga Street West, Hastings – self-serve whole fish and squid
• Tangaroa Seafoods, 7 Tangaroa Street, Ahuriri, Napier – they encourage customers to bring their own containers for both unpackaged seafood and Waipawa sausages.
• 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 PAK’nSAVE, Durham Ave, Napier; PAK’nSAVE Hastings, 602 Heretaunga Street West, Hastings, New World Havelock North, Porter Drive, Havelock North, New World Waipukurau, 27 Russell Street, Waipukurau; and New World Wairoa, Queen Street, Wairoa.

Cheese

• Hōhepa, 363 Main Road, Clive AND at the Hastings Farmers Market – will do cuts of many types of cheese off the block/wheel straight into your BYO container. Hōhepa are a wonderful organisation that practice regenerative and biodynamic farming, and employ and support persons with disabilities to learn new skills
• Cornucopia Organics, 221 Heretaunga St East, Hastings – if you’d like unpackaged cheddar, drop your container off at Cornucopia and when they are cutting their cheddar they can put whatever amount of cheese you’d like into your container for you. They’ll give you a call when your container with cheese in it is ready to be picked up!
• The Dutch Shop, 208 Havelock Road, Hastings – get unpackaged cuts of cheese off the round straight into a BYO container here.
• Origin Earth Factory Shop, 393 Te Mata Road, Havelock North – get larger cuts of cheese put into your own container here (smaller cuts are less feasible) – probably best to call in advance to let them know you would like this. Otherwise, get smaller cuts into BYO containers at the Origin Earth stall at the farmers’ market.
• Get Niewenhaus Farmstead Goat’s cheese and milk in reusable glass jars and bottles – find them at the farmer’s markets in the region!

Other

• Hapī, 89 Hastings Street, Napier; and at the Farmers Markets – get their beautiful nut cheeses and other store-made products in glass jars you can return for a discount to be sterilised and reused by the store 🙂
• 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!

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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).

• Baker’s Delight, Corner Nelson and Queen Street West, Hastings
• Ya Bon French Baker, 216 Heretaunga Street East, Hastings – all pre-packaged in brown paper bags now… perhaps they could be convinced to stop doing that?
• The Artisan, 110 Queen Street East, Hastings
• OMGoodness, 106 Queen Street East, Hastings and at the Hastings Farmers Market – probably the most amazing gluten free (and vegan and paleo!) bread we have tried in the country. The bakery also doubles as a community space open for anyone to hang out, get some work done, and also open for workshops and talks.
• Harald’s Bread World, Hastings Farmers Market
• Jacksons Artisan Foods, 15 Middle Road, Havelock North
• New Century Bakery, Gloucester Street, Taradale
• Yeast Coast Baking Co, 54 Dickens Street, Napier – lovely sourdough you can also find at the Farmers Markets!
• The Picnic Cafe, 17a Mahia Street, Ahuriri, Napier
• Nature’s Nuture, 100 High Street, Waipawa
• Osler’s Bakery & Cafe, Marine Parade, Wairoa
• 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. 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.  Hawke’s Bay is blessed with several farmers’ markets, so head down to your local spot on the weekend – Hawke’s Bay Farmers’ Markets in Hastings on Sundays and Napier on Saturdays. Or if you’re in Wairoa, check out the Wairoa Riverside Market at Alexandra Park on Saturday mornings between Labour Weekend and Easter Weekend. BYO containers and bags for fresh, local produce, and other delicacies like cheese off the block, preserves, and much more!
• Trade Aid, 11 Napier Rd, Havelock North and 127 Hastings St, Napier South, Napier – Trade Aid’s 1.5kg sugar bags are also great for upcycling as bulk bin bags, and are compostable also when they do wear out. Trade Aid’s coconut oil is one of the few on the market that does not have a plastic seal around the lid. Apart from the Trade Aid shop in Havelock North or Napier, you can also find these products at Cornucopia Organics, 221 Heretaunga St East, Hastings.
• Unpackaged sweets and chocolate
  • Birdwoods Sweet Shop, 298 Middle Road, Havelock North – get all the unpackaged lollies you could possibly imagine into your own jar!
  • Le Petite Chocolat, 207 Heretaunga East, Hastings – get your chocolates straight into your own container, and ask at the counter to have the drinking chocolate, chocolate buttons and cocoa powder put into your own bags or containers. Also sold at Cornucopia.
• Magic Beans Hawkes Bay – a Facebook group set up for people of Hawke’s Bay to share their fresh produce with others. No money is exchanged – just grown, foraged or preserved food swapped! Join the group for a great way to share unpackaged food around 🙂
• Nourished for Nil, 1000 Karamu Rd, Hastings – something a little bit different; a non-profit organisation which rescues surplus food that would otherwise go to waste from various outlets around town and then redistributes them for free at their venue on Karamu Rd. Anyone can visit the venue for food, no questions asked, but it’s  zero waste operation so you need to BYO bags and containers – yay!

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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:

• Aurum Coffee Roasters, Heretaunga Street East, Hastings
• Bay Espresso, 141 Karamu Road North, Hastings.
• Hawthorne Coffee, 23 Napier Road, Havelock North
• Switch Coffee, 43 Austin Street, Napier
• Georgia Cafe, 42 Tennyson Street, Napier
• F G Smith Eatery, 9a Ossian Street, Ahuriri Napier
• Bin Inn Hastings, 440 Heretaunga St West, Hastings
• Bin Inn Taradale, 281A Gloucester St, Taradale, Napier
• New World Hastings, 400 Heretaunga St East, Hastings.

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:

• Persephone in 50c refund returnable glass jars at the Hastings Farmers Market
• Cornucopia Organics, 221 Heretaunga St East, Hastings
• Loose leaf black tea at Moshims Discount Hastings, 505 Heretaunga St West, Hastings; and Indian Asian Grocery, Queen Street West, Hastings.
• The Naturopath at Chantal Shop, 45 Hastings Street, Napier, will fill your own container with loose leaf herbal tea if you ask nicely
• Nature’s Nuture, 100 High Street, Waipawa – you can get a couple of Heke Homemade Herbals loose leaf teas

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:

• Glass bottle return/swap scheme for dairy milk – 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 the store of purchase and exchange it for a full bottle for only the price of the milk (or else get your deposit back). The empties are then sterilised and refilled – so the bottles just go around and around – true zero waste! TWO options in Hawkes Bay:
  • Hōhepa milk at the Hōhepa shop, 363 Main Road, Clive AND at the Hastings Farmers Market; Cornucopia Organics, 221 Heretaunga St East, Hastings; and The Chantal Shop, 45 Hastings St, Napier
  • Origin Earth milk at Origin Earth Factory Shop, 393 Te Mata Road, Havelock North; and the Hastings Farmers Market

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:

• Brave Brewing, 205 Queen Street East, Hastings
• Giant Brewing Co, 6 Treachers Lane, Havelock North
• Roosters Brew House, 1470 Omahu Rd, Flaxmere
• Westshore Beach Inn, 84 Meeanee Quay, Westshore, Napier
• Rogue Hop, 113 Hastings Street, Napier
• Liquorland Ahuriri, corner of Pandora Road and West Quay, Ahuriri, Napier
• Big Barrel Waipukurau, 12 Ruataniwha Street, Waipukurau

If you like Gin, check out the Hastings Distillers, 231 Heretaunga Street East, Hastings – purchase their gin pre-bottled first time and bring it back for a refill! There’s talk that they might install a gin refillery… watch this space!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).

• Ginger beer – on tap at Roosters Brew House, 1470 Omahu Rd, Flaxmere – BYO bottle!

Reusable drinking vessels (cups and water bottles)

Refills of cleaning products

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

• Pure Blend, 1332 Omahu Road, Twyford, Hastings – this is the amazing Pure Blend factory shop where you can get refills of any of Pure Blend‘s huge range of cleaning products into BYO bottles and containers. Also get refills of a few of their products in bulk from Nature’s Nuture, 100 High Street, Waipawa.
• Cornucopia Organics, 221 Heretaunga St East, Hastings – stocks a wide range of cleaning products on tap – just BYO bottle (including Pure Blend products, where empty dispensers get returned to Pure Blend for refill, so there’s no waste – yay!)
• Eco Kiosk, 245 Dickens Street, Napier – just about any cleaning product (liquid or powdered) you can imagine is available on tap at this store in their Refilling Room – BYO bottles and containers! There are products by Wendyl’s, Pure Blend, Ecostore and a commercial eco cleaner manufacturer in Papamoa – so take your pick! Apart from the Ecostore range, all the bulk product dispensers are returned to the manufacturers when empty for refill – so really is low-waste. The Hastings store is much smaller so accordingly has a smaller range of options.
• Full Circle Eco Store, 56 Dalton Street, Napier – stocks in bulk Wendyl’s liquid and powder cleaning products and Dream Eco‘s liquid cleaning products.
• Bin Inn Hastings and Bin Inn Taradale-Napier, 440 Heretaunga St West, Hastings and 281A Gloucester St, Taradale, Napier.

• 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 Coco & Co, 240 Heretaunga St East, Hastings (SPRUCE); Black Barn Kitchen, 34 Black Barn Road, Havelock North (Wet-it!); Wine Country Home & Gifts, 237 Gloucester Street, Taradale (Wet-it!); The Chantal Shop, 45 Hastings St, Napier (Wet-it!); Eco Kiosk, 245 Dickens Street, Napier (SPRUCE); Full Circle Eco Store, 56 Dalton Street, Napier (SPRUCE); Nature’s Nuture, 100 High Street, Waipawa; Index, 8 High Street, Waipawa (though these are wrapped in plastic!); and Wooden Edge Gifts to Remember, 93 Ruataniwha Street, Waipukurau.
• Get lovely, locally-made 100% cotton dishcloths from Coco & Co, 240 Heretaunga St East, Hastings and Full Circle Eco Store, 56 Dalton Street, Napier.
• For various brands of 100% rayon/cotton/linen dishcloths, find them at Cadeaux, 7 Joll Road, Havelock North; Wine Country Home & Gifts, 237 Gloucester Street, Taradale; Blackbird Goods, two locations – 206 Heretaunga Street East; and 25 Dalton St, Napier; Vintage Artisans, 74b High St, Waipawa; and Index, 8 High Street, Waipawa
• If you’re after a coarser scrubby, you can get the Safix 100% coconut fibre coarse scrubby/scourer from Bin Inn Hastings, 440 Heretaunga St West, Hastings; Full Circle Eco Store, 56 Dalton Street, Napier; and Eco Kiosk, 245 Dickens Street, Napier; or various kinds of natural scrubbies from Cadeaux, 7 Joll Road, Havelock North and Full Circle Eco Store, 56 Dalton Street, Napier.
• For something a bit fancy, get Bianca Lorenne 100% cotton cloths from Kelly Brown’s Home Textiles, 248 Gloucester Street, Taradale; The Flower Barrow, 229 Gloucester Street, Taradale

Laundry

• Eco Planet and Earthwise laundry powder comes in a cardboard box with no inner plastic lining, and the scoop is also made of cardboard. Find it at New World Hastings, 400 Heretaunga St East, Hastings; Four Square Cape View, 12 Clifton Road, Haumoana; PAK’nSAVE Napier, Munroe Street, Napier; PAK’nSAVE, Durham Ave, Napier; New World Greenmeadows, Tamatea Road, Napier; Countdown Waipukurau, 18 Ruataniwha St, Waipukurau; New World Waipukurau, 27 Russell Street, Waipukurau; and New World Wairoa, Queen Street, Wairoa.
• Get Tru Earth laundry strips from Nature’s Nuture, 100 High Street, Waipawa
• Non-plastic clothes pegs – get bamboo or stainless steel pegs at Blackbird Goods, two locations – 206 Heretaunga Street East; and 25 Dalton St, Napier; Full Circle Eco Store, 56 Dalton Street, Napier; and Eco Kiosk, 245 Dickens Street, Napier; Nature’s Nuture, 100 High Street, Waipawa; Magnolia Gift Collection, 28 High Street, Waipawa; Index, 8 High Street, Waipawa; Wooden Edge Gifts to Remember, 93 Ruataniwha Street, Waipukurau; New World Waipukurau, 27 Russell Street, Waipukurau; and Bloom’n loco, 254 Marine Parade, Wairoa.
• Soapnuts – natural nut shells that release saponin (like soap) in water and can be used for laundry. Once spent, the shells can be composted. You can find the Soapnuts brand, which comes in a cardboard box, no plastic lining, at Environment Centre Hawkes Bay, 1004 Karamu Road, Hastings; Full Circle Eco Store, 56 Dalton Street, Napier; and Nature’s Nuture, 100 High Street, Waipawa. Find That Red House soapnuts that come in a brown paper bag inside a cotton bag at Bloom’n loco, 254 Marine Parade, Wairoa.
• Get stain removing soap bars from Nature’s Nuture, 100 High Street, Waipawa

Ingredients for DIY cleaning products

• Baking soda – find this in bulk bins at Bin Inn Hastings and Bin Inn Taradale-Napier, 440 Heretaunga St West, Hastings and 281A Gloucester St, Taradale, Napier; Cornucopia Organics, 221 Heretaunga St East, Hastings; Rathour Foodstore Indian Asian Grocery, 500 Queen Street West, Hastings; Full Circle Eco Store, 56 Dalton Street, Napier; Eco Kiosk, 245 Dickens Street, Napier; and The Chantal Shop, 45 Hastings St, Napier.
• Washing soda – available in bulk bins at Bin Inn Hastings and Bin Inn Taradale-Napier, 440 Heretaunga St West, Hastings and 281A Gloucester St, Taradale, Napier; Full Circle Eco Store, 56 Dalton Street, Napier; Eco Kiosk, 245 Dickens Street, Napier; The Chantal Shop, 45 Hastings St, Napier.
• Borax – available in bulk at Eco Kiosk, 245 Dickens Street, Napier.
• White vinegar – available on tap at Full Circle Eco Store, 56 Dalton Street, Napier; Eco Kiosk, 245 Dickens Street, Napier; Bin Inn Hastings and Bin Inn Taradale-Napier, 440 Heretaunga St West, Hastings and 281A Gloucester St, Taradale, Napier.
• Bars of castile soap/dishwashing bars (which you can use as a base for homemade dishwashing and laundry liquid) – get locally-made Pure Blend dishwash bars at Eco Kiosk, 245 Dickens Street, Napier. Or else, you can find Wellington-made Hopi brand at Creative Treasures, 315 Heretaunga St West, Hastings, or Dr Bronner’s castile bars at Bin Inn Hastings, 440 Heretaunga St West, Hastings; Cornucopia Organics, 221 Heretaunga St East, Hastings; Health 2000, 235 Heretaunga Street West, Hastings; and The Chantal Shop, 45 Hastings St, Napier.
• Wendyl’s liquid castile soap – available on tap at Full Circle Eco Store, 56 Dalton Street, Napier; and Eco Kiosk, 245 Dickens Street, Napier.

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 – or recycled through the TERRACYCLE scheme at Environment Centre Hawkes Bay, 1004 Karamu Road, Hastings, if you put the bristles in a floss container). You can find bamboo toothbrushes at Cornucopia Organics, 221 Heretaunga St East, Hastings; Hastings UFS Dispensary Pharmacy, 308 Heretaunga Street East, Hastings; Bin Inn Hastings, 440 Heretaunga St West, Hastings; Unichem Jeff Whittaker Pharmacy, 10 Napier Road, Havelock North; New World Havelock North, Porter Drive, Havelock North; Health 2000 Taradale, Gloucester Street, Taradale; New World Greenmeadows, Tamatea Road, Napier; The Chantal Shop, 45 Hastings St, Napier; Eco Kiosk, 245 Dickens Street, Napier; Full Circle Eco Store, 56 Dalton Street, Napier; Nature’s Nuture, 100 High Street, Waipawa; Countdown Waipukurau, 18 Ruataniwha St, Waipukurau; Unichem Waipukurau Pharmacy, 71-75 Ruataniwha St, Waipukurau; New World Waipukurau, 27 Russell Street, Waipukurau; and New World Wairoa, Queen Street, Wairoa.
• Dental Floss – Cornucopia Organics, 221 Heretaunga St East, Hastings; Bin Inn Hastings, 440 Heretaunga St West, Hastings; Environment Centre Hawkes Bay, 1004 Karamu Road, Hastings; Blackbird Goods, two locations – 206 Heretaunga Street East; and 25 Dalton St, Napier; Full Circle Eco Store, 56 Dalton Street, Napier; and The Chantal Shop, 45 Hastings St, Napier all stock Do Gooder floss, 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, bamboo and activated charcoal 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 from Full Circle as well – just pop the refill into your original metal/glass dispenser. Both Eco Kiosk, 245 Dickens Street, Napier; and Nature’s Nuture, 100 High Street, Waipawa stock The Eco Floss in a glass dispenser. The floss is PLA, which is compostable. However, sometimes PLA can’t be hard to break down in a home compost but in floss form it is probably OK. This is a good alternative for vegans who may not want to use silk floss. Note that currently The Eco Floss does not offer floss refills.
• Toothpaste – you can get both fluoridated and non-fluoridated toothpaste tabs (basically a tablet of toothpaste you chew on and it becomes like standard toothpaste) that come in either a cardboard box, glass bottles or aluminium tins (no plastic) from Full Circle Eco Store, 56 Dalton Street, Napier, and Eco Kiosk, 245 Dickens Street, Napier. Eco Kiosk also stocks Pure Blend liquid toothpaste in an aluminium bottle with a plastic pump – when it’s empty, the tube can be recycled, and you simply get a new, refill tube that you then pop your plastic pump from the previous bottle into. Easy! Or even better, head to Pure Blend, 10c Murray Place, Hastings – the factory shop, where you can get the liquid toothpaste or glass jars of more solid toothpaste which you can refill.

Unpackaged Bars of Soap

It’s easy to get soap without packaging in Hawkes Bay. The following stores sell totally (or virtually) naked bars of soap:

• Cornucopia Organics, 221 Heretaunga St East, Hastings – EcoStore soaps.
• Coco & Co, 240 Heretaunga St East, Hastings – bars by Panna Soaps and Wouldn’t Know ‘Em From a Bar of Soap.
• Bin Inn Hastings, 440 Heretaunga St West, Hastings
• Pure Blend, 1332 Omahu Road, Twyford, Hastings
• Blackbird Goods, two locations – 206 Heretaunga Street East; and 25 Dalton St, Napier
• Gilmours Havelock North Pharmacy, 13 Middle Road, Havelock North.
• Adamo, 8 Joll Road, Havelock North
• Cadeaux, 7 Joll Road, Havelock North – felted soap
• Unichem Jeff Whittaker Pharmacy, 10 Napier Road, Havelock North
• Bin Inn Taradale-Napier, 281A Gloucester St, Taradale.
• The Chantal Shop, 45 Hastings St, Napier – lots of different options.
• Full Circle Eco Store, 56 Dalton Street, Napier
• Eco Kiosk, 245 Dickens Street, Napier
• Nature’s Nuture, 100 High Street, Waipawa
• Vintage Artisans, 74b High St, Waipawa
• Waipawa Pharmacy, 24 High Street, Waipawa
• Index, 8 High Street, Waipawa – Heart and Hand
• Food for Thought Organics, 69 Ruataniwha St, Waipukurau
• De’s Cavern, 83 Ruataniwha St, Waipukurau
• Wooden Edge Gifts to Remember, 93 Ruataniwha Street, Waipukurau
• Country Collectables, 115 Ruataniwha Street, Waipukurau
• Purple Petals,  5 Paul Street, Wairoa

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!

• Full Circle Eco Store, 56 Dalton Street, Napier stocks an impressive range of bars and sustainably packaged toiletries:
  • Global Soap‘s shampoo, conditioner and shaving bar range.
  • Simple Naked Soap goat’s milk shampoo bars and natural deo (without baking soda and in a home compostable cardboard tube)
  • Rage Against Chemicals shampoo bars
  • Raw Nature deodorant and dry shampoo, which both come in a home compostable cardboard tube at Full Circle Eco Store, 56 Dalton Street, Napier.
  • Totally Balmy shampoo and conditioner bars.
  • Dream Eco shampoo and moisturising bars.
• Pure Blend, 1332 Omahu Road, Twyford, Hastings – this is the amazing Pure Blend factory shop where you can get all kinds of solid soap bars and products either unpackaged or in paper/cardboard, from shampoo and conditioner to deodorant and even toilet and bath bombs! You can also get some of their products from Eco Kiosk, 245 Dickens Street, Napier; and Nature’s Nuture, 100 High Street, Waipawa.
• Look out for 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). You can find these bars at Cornucopia Organics, 221 Heretaunga St East, Hastings; Life Pharmacy, corner of Heretaunga Street West and Market Street North, Hastings; The Chantal Shop, 45 Hastings St, Napier; Unichem Waipukurau Pharmacy, 71-75 Ruataniwha St, Waipukurau; and Ecko Gifts, 92 Marine Parade, Wairoa.
• Global Soap – get this Nelson soap company’s 3 in 1 shower/shampoo/shave beer bars from Cornucopia Organics, 221 Heretaunga St East, Hastings and Full Circle Eco Store, 56 Dalton Street, Napier (who also stock some of Global Soap’s other shampoo bars, as well as their conditioner bars too!)
• Dirty Hippie – You can get the Dirty Hippie range of shampoo bars, shaving bars and also their deodorant, which comes in a home compostable cardboard tube, at Eco Kiosk, 245 Dickens Street, Napier.
• Get a range of other brands of shampoo, conditioner, moisturiser etc bars from Index, 8 High Street, Waipawa; Countdown Waipukurau, 18 Ruataniwha St, Waipukurau; Food for Thought Organics, 69 Ruataniwha St, Waipukurau; Country Collectables, 115 Ruataniwha Street, Waipukurau; and New World Waipukurau, 27 Russell Street, Waipukurau
• Get deodorant in home compostable cardboard tubes by Naturale, Ever Kind, and No.8 at Gee’s Pharmacy, 279 Gloucester Street, Taradale; and Food for Thought Organics, 69 Ruataniwha St, Waipukurau.
• You can also get MZJB unpackaged bars of moisturiser at the Hastings Farmers Market.

Reusable Menstrual Products

There are zero waste, low cost alternatives to disposable sanitary items like tampons and pads.

• Menstrual cups – stocked at Cornucopia Organics, 221 Heretaunga St East, Hastings; Pak’NSave Hastings, 602 Heretaunga Street West, Hastings; Unichem Hastings Pharmacy, 600 Heretaunga Street West, Hastings; New World Hastings, 400 Heretaunga St East, Hastings; Gilmours Havelock North Pharmacy, 13 Middle Road, Havelock North; New World Havelock North, Porter Drive, Havelock North; Health 2000 Taradale, Gloucester Street, Taradale; Glenns Pharmacy, Gloucester Street, Taradale; Full Circle Eco Store, 56 Dalton Street, Napier; Eco Kiosk, 245 Dickens Street, Napier; The Chantal Shop, 45 Hastings St, Napier; New World Greenmeadows, Tamatea Road, Napier; PAK’nSAVE, Durham Ave, Napier; New World Waipukurau, 27 Russell Street, Waipukurau; and Unichem Waipukurau Pharmacy, 71-75 Ruataniwha St, Waipukurau.
• Reusable, washable pads are available at Cornucopia Organics, 221 Heretaunga St East, Hastings.
• Period undies are available at Unichem Waipukurau Pharmacy, 71-75 Ruataniwha St, Waipukurau.

Shaving

Liquid toiletries on tap or refillable toiletries/cosmetics

The following stores sell liquid toiletries on tap for refill (BYO bottles!):

• Pure Blend, 1332 Omahu Road, Twyford, Hastings – this is the Pure Blend factory shop where you can get refills of any of Pure Blend‘s huge range of bathroom products – shampoo, conditioner, body wash, lotions and more – into BYO bottles and containers.
• Eco Kiosk, 245 Dickens Street, Napier – has a huge range of toiletries on tap in their Refilling Room (by Pure Blend and Ecostore) – BYO bottles and containers! FYI that the Pure Blend range comes in bulk dispensers that are refilled once empty. However Ecostore does not take back its bulk dispensers for refill.
• Full Circle Eco Store, 56 Dalton Street, Napier stocks Dream Eco liquid toiletries on tap (BYO bottles and containers!).

Ingredients for DIY cosmetics/toiletries

• Annabelle’s, 5E Havelock Road, Havelock North stocks Tahi skincare oils in nice (enough to reuse) glass flasks/bottles with metal lids
• Essential oils – Pure Blend, 1332 Omahu Road, Twyford, Hastings – this is the Pure Blend factory shop where you can get refills of essential oils
• Unpackaged beeswax is sold at Cornucopia Organics, 221 Heretaunga St East, Hastings; and Humanity Books and Fine Arts Supplies, 107 Karamu Rd, Hastings.
• Baking soda – find this in bulk bins at Bin Inn Hastings and Bin Inn Taradale-Napier, 440 Heretaunga St West, Hastings and 281A Gloucester St, Taradale, Napier; Cornucopia Organics, 221 Heretaunga St East, Hastings; Rathour Foodstore Indian Asian Grocery, 500 Queen Street West, Hastings; The Chantal Shop, 45 Hastings St, Napier; Full Circle Eco Store, 56 Dalton Street, Napier; and Eco Kiosk, 245 Dickens Street, Napier.

Other

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! 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, check the following options:
    • Environment Centre Hawkes Bay, 1004 Karamu Road, Hastings runs home composting workshops. The Centre also sells worms and worm farms if you’d like to set one up at home.
    • Sustainable Ewe, Waipukurau, Central Hawkes Bay rescues hundreds of food grade buckets that would otherwise go to landfill and turns them into CHBokashi buckets that you can get at a really great price! Sustainable Ewe also provide workshops and information on home composting and worm farming.
    • The district and city councils throughout the region support home composting and worm farm workshops, check out your local council’s website to see if they have any on in the near future.
  • Edible business food waste – food that is still edible that goes to waste is a crying shame. In Hastings, check out Nourished for Nil, 1004 Karamu Road, Hastings, which rescues edible, surplus food from local businesses and then redistributes it the same day to the community at their free store. Anyone can come and take food – no questions asked – just BYO bags/containers!
• 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? Consider going along to a Repair or Fix-it Cafe 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).
  • Recycle – If your electronics really have given up the ghost, rather than chucking them out, take them to be recycled responsibly. You can do this at Environment Centre Hawkes Bay, 1004 Karamu Road, Hastings, and at the Waipukurau and Waipawa transfer stations. There is a small fee to recycle your electronic items (until the Government starts to regulate manufacturers of these products), but it’s a small cost relative to damage these items otherwise cause in landfill. See the Environment Centre website/Central Hawkes Bay District Council website for a list of their fees.
• Hard to recycle items – Environment Centre Hawke’s Bay, 1004 Karamu Road North, Hastings and Sustainable Ewe in Waipukurau accept a wide array of hard-to-recycle items, including things like oral care products, razors, coffee capsules, and much more! If you’ve got something that you’re not sure whether you can recycle or not, drop into the Environment Centre and ask one of their friendly staff, or if you are in Central Hawkes Bay, check out Sustainable Ewe‘s website!
• Scrap metal – there are various scrap metal dealers around Hawke’s Bay, including Harris Scrap Metal, 21 Thorn pl, Onekawa, Napier and 803 Warren St, North Hastings, which accepts any quantity of scrap metal (big and small) from residents and industry (will buy the scrap metal off you); Onekawa Metal Recyclers, 9 Dunlop Rd, Napier; Sims Pacific Metals, 5 Angus Pl, Onekawa, Napier.

Zero Waste Information and Support Networks

• Plastic Free Hawkes Bay – a wonderful group, dedicated to encouraging and supporting waste reduction across Hawkes Bay through awareness raising, campaigns, working alongside councils and local businesses, and also sharing and delivering public workshops!
• Para Kore – Para Kore is an amazing organisation working with marae, kura and Māori institutions and businesses to transition towards zero waste. Their resources/services are free and their regional kaiārahi are totally fabulous. Para Kore’s Kaiārahi for Wairoa and Hawkes Bay is Grace Ormond, so if you’re keen for some awhi with waste reduction, she’d certainly be quick to help out 🙂
• Waste Free CHB – a Central Hawke’s Bay District Council initiative for sharing information, tips, tricks and events to help Central Hawke’s Bay residents reduce their waste!
• Sustainable Ewe – run by the incomparable Neen Kennedy, Sustainable Ewe is “The Home of Sustain Ability in Central Hawke’s Bay”. On her website, Neen provides a huge amount of advice for more resourceful and sustainable living – from preserving and fermenting through to composting, worm farming, DIY and repair, and making your own household cleaners. Need also rescues loads of materials that might otherwise go to waste, and upcycles them into treasures that are valuable for the community, whether turning rescued food grade buckets into accessible bokashi bins, or transforming rescued pallets into furniture. Sustainable Ewe also runs regular workshops and zero waste education for adults and children throughout the district.

Share and Exchange

• 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.
• Magic Beans Hawkes Bay – a Facebook group set up for people of Hawke’s Bay to share their fresh produce with others. No money is exchanged – just grown, foraged or preserved food swapped! Join the group for a great way to share unpackaged food around 🙂
• Seed library – if you’re wanting to share some of your saved seeds or use some seeds that others in your community have saved, check out the local seed library hosted by Sustainable Ewe in Waipukurau.
• Sharing Sheds/Community Fruit and Veg Stands – these are stands/shelves in the community where anyone can drop off excess fruit and veg from their garden, and anyone is free to take what’s there, free of charge. The wonderful art of sharing means that excess produce doesn’t go to waste. Furthermore, items can be shared without excessive amounts of packaging. These are popping up around the country and there are quite a few throughout Hawkes Bay! Find the closest one to you on NZ’s Free Food map!

Skills and Resourcefulness in Communities

• Community gardens/urban planting – community gardens are an excellent way for residents to get kai without packaging, and to learn skills of growing food and setting up composts – both very useful skills for low-waste living. There are some great community gardens around Hawkes Bay. For example, check out Haumoana Community Gardens! Community gardens are always looking for volunteers to help out and come along to working bees, so if you are interested in picking up gardening skills, or if you are already a keen gardener and would like to have the opportunity to share your skill with others, consider getting involved with your local community garden.
• Menzshed – there are Menzsheds throughout Hawkes Bay. 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!
• Sustainable Ewe – Neen at Sustainable Ewe in Central Hawkes Bay runs heaps of workshops at her home in Waipukurau that help to build resourcefulness – from Crafternoons with sewing and crochet, to beeswax making workshops, gardening workshops, and Wahine Workshops where women can come along and learn how to use a dropsaw and other tools while upcycling rescued pallets.
• Central Hawke’s Bay District Libraries – host a series of programmes and events, many of which support locals with resourcefulness skills that help with sustainable living. Check out the ‘Programme and Events’ section of their website.
• Boomerang Bags Hawkes Bay – joining a group that is sewing reusable bags to give out to the community is a great way to learn to sew while helping to reduce plastic bag consumption and these groups are always looking for volunteers (regardless of whether or not you have prior sewing knowledge). Boomerang Bags does this and has taken New Zealand by storm, and there’s a really vibrant Boomerang Bags group in Hawkes Bay that runs working bees and sewing bees across the region.