Zero Waste in Wellington City

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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!

• Hopper – Refill, Shop & Cafe, 11 Hopper Street, Te Aro, Wellington City – stocks unpackaged, locally-made tofu, hummus and dips and tortillas – BYO container. Also stocks Terra Nut Cheese vegan cheeses and Taco Addicts salsa in glass jars you can return to be reused and refilled.
• Preston’s Master Butchers, Torrens Terrace, Wellington – happy to put unpackaged cuts of meat into a BYO container (in fact, encourage it), but they do note that once something has been placed in a container, it can’t be taken out again (so no changing your mind about the weight you want at the last minute!!)
• Cameron Harrison Butchery, 4A Crofton Rd, Ngaio
• Gipps Street Butchery, 8 Gipps Street, Karori
• Wellington Halal Meat Limited, 160 Riddiford Street, Newtown
• Newtown’s Fresh Halal Meat, 155A Riddiford Street, Newtown
• Island Bay Butchery, 127 The Parade, Island Bay
• Strathmore Butchery, 506 Broadway, Strathmore Park
• The Mediterranean Food Warehouse, 42 Constable St, Newtown, Wellington – BYO containers for the deli food, ranging from savoury treats, like olives and pesto, through to sweet delicacies, like turkish delight and very fancy chocolate. Mmm…
• Nino’s Fish Boat at The Harbourside Market (outside Te Papa on Sundays) – accepts BYO containers for unpackaged fish!
• Wellington Sea Market, 220 Cuba Street, Wellington City
• Johnsonville Fish Supply, 11 Johnsonville Road, Johnsonville
• Unpackaged live mussels/whole fish – there are a few stores around town that stock unpackaged live mussels and/or whole fish 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 mussels and fish at PAK’nSAVE Kilbirnie, 98 Rongotai Road, Kilbirnie; and just mussels at Countdown Newtown, 3 John Street, Newtown; New World Wellington City, 279 Wakefield Street, Wellington; New World Thorndon, 150 Molesworth Street, Thorndon; New World Newlands, Cnr Newlands Road and Bracken Road, Newlands.
• 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).

• Leeds Street Bakery, Unit 6/g, 14 Leeds Street, Wellington
• Arobake, 83 Aro Street, Aro Valley, Wellington
• Hopper – Refill, Shop & Cafe, 11 Hopper Street, Te Aro, Wellington City – on Fridays and Saturdays at Hopper Refill Shop you can get unpackaged, day-old Arobake bread that would have otherwise gone to waste, for a great price! So many wins right here!
• Pandoro, 2 Allen Street, Wellington CBD; 89 Willis Street, Wellington CBD, 14 Woodward Street, Wellington CBD
• Prefab, 14 Jessie Street, Te Aro, Wellington – delicious in-house sourdough
• Starta Bread Kitchen, Leftbank Lane, Cuba Mall, Te Aro – also delicious Wellington Sourdough bread.
• V1 Vegan Store, 207 Cuba Street, Te Aro – stocks unpackaged vegan pies, cakes and slices, just BYO bag/container.
• Bordeaux Bakery, 220 Thorndon Quay, Pipitea
• Brezelmania – The Original German Bakery, 90 Upland Road, Kelburn; and 23 Bay Road, Kilbirnie.
• Newtown Bakery & Cafe, 2 Constable Street, Newtown
• Hataitai Bakery, 8 Moxham Avenue, Hataitai
• Nada Bakery, 64 Johnsonville Road, Johnsonville
• Moore Wilson’s Fresh, corner of Tory and College Streets, Te Aro – stocks a range of locally baked bread unpackaged.
• 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 to get a good source of unpackaged (often locally grown), produce, markets are the place to go! BYO bags to get fresh produce from large markets at Newtown School and Tawa on Saturdays, or at the Habourside market outside Te Papa on Sundays. For a smaller range of local, organic produce and artisan products, check out the Thorndon Farmers’ Market (aka Hill Street Farmers’ Market) on Saturday mornings. By and large, we’ve found that markets, where you can meet the grower/producer face-to-face, are really great for starting fruitful conversations about waste-free food, and developing relationships and systems that enable you to get your favourite fruit, vege and preserves without the packaging. Many of the Wellington markets have local producers of pre-made foods like tofu, noodles, preserves 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.
• Veggie boxes/co-ops – there are lots of fruit, veg + food co-ops around town from whom you can order your veggies each week. Around the country we’ve found that unless these co-ops have a zero waste policy, the fruit and veg will usually be pre-packed, so it’s essential to contact them before ordering and have a conversation about whether the co-op is willing to use reusable bags for your box, or to leave things unpackaged (you may be the first person who’s ever asked, so always good to plant the seed!). Generally, if it’s a local operation, it should be possible to arrange this. If it’s not possible to arrange, we recommend looking elsewhere or simply getting unpackaged fruit, vege and other staples from markets and other stores. Some box and/or co-op schemes to look at are Wairarapa Eco Farm, and Titahi Bay Fruit and Vege Co-op, which can be picked up from Tawa on Tuesdays. $15 for a fruit and vege pack, email smac.fruitvege@gmail.com or text/call 022 687 8414. They use fabric bags and second-hand paper bags; no plastic.
• Trade Aid – Trade Aid‘s 2kg sugar bags are also great for upcycling as bulk bin bags, and are home compostable 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. You can get these products at Trade Aid, 82B Victoria St, Wellington CBD or Commonsense Organics, 147 Tory Street, Te Aro; 37 Rongotai Rd, Kilbirnie.

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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 coffee in other stores. Here are some spots we found:

• Raglan Roast at multiple locations – 40 Abel Smith Street; 156 Willis Street; Chaffers Dock, 18 Herd Street; and 12 Holland Street, Wellington (who are not only happy to put freshly ground beans into your BYO container, but for $10 you will get 200g of beans, as well as a regular coffee made up for you on the spot).
• Havana Coffee Works, 163 Tory Street, Wellington
• Midnight Espresso, 178 Cuba Street, Wellington
• Prefab, 14 Jessie Street, Te Aro
• Vic Books Cafes, Easterfield Building, Victoria University of Wellington, 1 Kelburn Parade, Kelburn; and Rutherford House, Victoria University of Wellington Pipitea, 27 Lambton Quay, Pipitea
• Rich Coffee, 27/369 Adelaide Road, Newtown – roastery open Saturdays. You can also get Rich Coffee delivered to your door via a glass jar swap system! Your first order will include the price of the jar, but you simply swap your empty jar for a full one next time you order.
• Yum Jar – you can get coffee roasted to order (delivered in glass jars that are returned for reuse) when you order a meal kit!
• GoodFor, 23 Jessie Street, Te Aro
• New World Wellington City, 279 Wakefield Street, Wellington
• Commonsense Organics, 147 Tory Street, Te Aro; 37 Rongotai Rd, Kilbirnie
• Depending on stock, you may be able to find Peoples Coffee beans in bulk at Hopper – Refill, Shop & Cafe, 11 Hopper Street, Te Aro, Wellington City.

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:

• Hopper – Refill, Shop & Cafe, 11 Hopper Street, Te Aro, Wellington City – the most zero wastey option – you’ll find both Heke Homemade Herbals teas and Wellington based Ritual Tea in bulk (both these teas arrive in Hopper’s dispensary either through the empty dispensers being refilled when empty, or through compostable brown paper bags).
• The Wellington Apothecary, 110a Cuba Mall, Wellington CBD (ask at the counter to have them put into BYO jars/containers).
• GoodFor, 23 Jessie Street, Te Aro
• The Kilbirnie Commonsense Organics store (37 Rongotai Road, Kilbirnie) stocks a selection of loose tea leaves in bulk too.

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! THREE options in Wellington City:
  • Get Eketahuna Country Meats milk at Hopper – Refill, Shop & Cafe, 11 Hopper Street, Te Aro, Wellington City; or Aunt Jean’s milk from Top End Dairy, 201 Rintoul Street, Berhampore; Island Bay Butchery, 127 The Parade, Island Bay; Strathmore Butchery, 506 Broadway, Strathmore Park; and Four Square Kelburn, 97 Upland Road, Kelburn. Both Eketahuna and Aunt Jean’s come in returnable, reusable glass bottles. Empty bottles go back to Eketahuna or Aunt Jean’s (in Nelson) for sterilisation and refill, so there’s no backroom waste.
  • Brooklyn Creamery Goat’s Milk – would you believe there’s a goat farm in Wellington City? And that you can get fresh goat’s milk in reusable glass bottles? Give it a try – stocked at Hopper- Refill Shop where you can also return your empties to be sterilised and reused
  • Jersey Girls Organic milk in reusable glass bottles at Wellington City Commonsense Organics, 147 Tory Street, Te Aro. Empty bottles are sterilised and refilled from big plastic bladders sent to the stores by Jersey Girls Organic  (so there’s a bit of back-room waste).
• Cow’s milk delivery in reusable glass bottles:
  • Eketahuna Country Meats do home delivery of milk in reusable glass bottles (just like the old days!) across the Wellington Region – to check out which day they deliver to your area, you’ll need to begin the registration process on their website. You’ll have milk delivered to your door in reusable glass bottles (just like the old days!) – leave your empty bottles out on the next delivery day so they can be returned to Eketahuna Country Meats for sterilisation and refill. YAY!
• Non-dairy mylk paste – find some of the amazing Vigour & Vitality plant-based mylk butters at Hopper – Refill, Shop & Cafe, 11 Hopper Street, Te Aro, Wellington City – simply add the butter to water and either blend or froth up to become mylk. At Hopper – Refill, Shop & Cafe these butters are sold in bulk – just BYO jar. Once empty, the bulk glass container is sent back to V&V to be washed, sterilised and reused – yus!

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:

• Any of Wellington’s craft breweries!! Check out the extensive list here.
• Regional Wines & Spirits, 15 Ellice Street, Mt Vic.
• Glengarry Wines Kelburn, 85 Upland Road, Kelburn
• Sprig & Fern, 3 locations: 461 Adelaide Road, Berhampore; 342 Tinakori Road, Thorndon; and 99 Main Road, Tawa

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 cocoa powder from a bulk bin at Hopper – Refill, Shop & Cafe, 11 Hopper Street, Te Aro, Wellington City
• Juice – find apple juice on tap (subject to availability) at Commonsense Organics, 147 Tory Street, Te Aro; 37 Rongotai Rd, Kilbirnie. Alternatively, The Brothers ColdPress deliver all manner of juices in glass bottles that, once empty, are collected to be taken back for sterilisation and reuse – yay! You can also find these juices at Hopper – Refill, Shop & Cafe, 11 Hopper Street, Te Aro, Wellington City; and Commonsense Organics, 147 Tory Street, Te Aro; 37 Rongotai Rd, Kilbirnie.
• Ginger beer – head to Hopper Refill Shop and get Hardy Boys ginger beer and lemon, honey, ginger drinks in glass bottles you can return to Hopper, who will take them back to Hardy Boys to be sterilised and refilled!
• Kombucha – you can get the awesome locally made KB Kombucha zero waste in a few ways: go direct to the shop at 64 Inglewood Place, Taranaki Street and get it straight into your own bottles, or get it in reusable glass bottles that you can bring back to be reused by KB at the shop or also at Hopper Refill Shop. Also BYO bottles to get kombucha on tap at GoodFor, 23 Jessie Street, Te Aro. You can also get Plimmerton Kombucha in reusable/returnable glass bottles from Yum Jar when you order one of their zero waste meal kits.

ALSO, wait… Did someone say WINE on tap?

Yes, we did – the holy grail of zero waste success! Everyday Wine, 177 Cuba Street, Te Aro has a whole range of natural wines on tap and they will fill your own bottles (!) The best thing is that Everyday Wine gets the tap wine delivered to them in reusable kegs that go back to the wineries when empty for refill, so it’s a back of house low-waste system too (no nasty plastic bladders…!)

Reusable drinking vessels (cups and water bottles)

Refills of cleaning products

The following stores stock a range of liquid and/or powdered cleaning products in bulk dispensers that you can fill your own bottles/containers with:

• Hopper – Refill, Shop & Cafe, 11 Hopper Street, Te Aro, Wellington City – stocks products made by Figgy & Co. When the store’s bulk dispensers are empty they get returned to Figgy & Co for refill – so it’s really low-waste!
• Sustainability Trust‘s EcoShop, 2 Forrester’s Lane, Te Aro, Wellington – similar deal to above, with OurEco products – the bulk dispensers get taken back to be reused/refilled, yay!
• Commonsense Organics, 147 Tory Street, Te Aro; 37 Rongotai Rd, Kilbirnie
• Good House Keeping, 287 Cuba Street, Wellington
• GoodFor, 23 Jessie Street, Te Aro
• The Minimal Co, 24 Elizabeth Street, Mount Victoria – Ecostore products, plus dishwashing powder refills

Low-waste dishwashing

You can find dishbrushes with wooden handles and removable + replaceable, home compostable heads at Hopper – Refill, Shop & Cafe, 11 Hopper Street, Te Aro, Wellington City; Commonsense Organics, 147 Tory Street, Te Aro; 37 Rongotai Rd, Kilbirnie; Sustainability Trust‘s EcoShop, 2 Forrester’s Lane, Te Aro, Wellington; Good House Keeping, 287 Cuba Street, Wellington; Vessel, 87 Victoria Street, Wellington CBD; New World Thorndon, 150 Molesworth Street, Thorndon; The Minimal Co, 24 Elizabeth Street, Mount Victoria; and The Axe, 193 Adelaide Road, Newtown.

Also, you can get wooden veggie brushes with plant fibre bristles which can also be used as dishbrushes (they just don’t have a handle) at Cre8tiveworx, 217 Cuba Street, Wellington CBD; GoodFor, 23 Jessie Street, Te Aro; New World Thorndon, 150 Molesworth Street, Thorndon; The Minimal Co, 24 Elizabeth Street, Mount Victoria; The Axe, 193 Adelaide Road, Newtown; and Commonsense Organics, 147 Tory Street, Te Aro; 37 Rongotai Rd, Kilbirnie – as these are made only of bamboo and plant fibre, they’re home compostable should they ever wear down.

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, Wet-it!, Munch and other brands of 100% cotton + cellulose dishcloth sponges (home compostable at the end of their life) which are available at Commonsense Organics, 147 Tory Street, Te Aro; 37 Rongotai Rd, Kilbirnie; Good House Keeping, 287 Cuba Street, Wellington; Sustainability Trust‘s EcoShop, 2 Forrester’s Lane, Te Aro, Wellington; The Minimal Co, 24 Elizabeth Street, Mount Victoria; Natty, 476 Adelaide Road, Berhampore; and PAK’nSAVE Kilbirnie, 98 Rongotai Road, Kilbirnie.
• 100% cotton, hand knitted dishcloths are sold at Hopper – Refill, Shop & Cafe, 11 Hopper Street, Te Aro, Wellington City or 100% organic dishcloths from Vida Textiles, 27A Webb Street, Te Aro, Wellington City.
• At The Axe, 193 Adelaide Road, Newtown; and Tea Pea, 22 Ganges Road, Khandallah you can get the fancy Bianca Lorenne cotton dishcloths.
• Alternatively, find 100% cotton cloths that can be used as dishcloths at The Wellington Apothecary, 110a Cuba Mall, Wellington CBD (subject to availability as they are handknitted by a local) ; Vessel, 87 Victoria Street, Wellington CBD; Good House Keeping, 287 Cuba Street, Wellington (also stocks 100% cotton/rayon cloths); and Tea Pea, 22 Ganges Road, Khandallah.
• If you’re after a coarser scrubby, you can get loofa scourers from The Minimal Co, 24 Elizabeth Street, Mount Victoria; or 100% coconut fibre coarse scrubby from Commonsense Organics, 147 Tory Street, Te Aro; 37 Rongotai Rd, Kilbirnie.

Laundry

• Eco Planet and Earthwise laundry powders come in a cardboard box with a cardboard scoop (or no scoop at all for Earthwise!) – no plastic lining! You can get both at New World Wellington City, 279 Wakefield Street, Wellington; New World Thorndon, 150 Molesworth Street, Thorndon; New World Newtown, 195 Riddiford Street, Newtown; PAK’nSAVE Kilbirnie, 98 Rongotai Road, Kilbirnie; Four Square Hataitai, 1 Moxham Avenue, Hataitai; New World Newlands, corner of Newlands Road and Bracken Road, Newlands; and New World Tawa, 35 Oxford Street, Tawa.
• You can also get Living Green laundry powder, which is in just cardboard and brown paper (also septic tank safe) with a bamboo scoop, from (almost) any Countdown supermarket.
• Soapnuts – natural nut shells that release saponin (like soap) in water and can be used for laundry. Once spent, the shells can be composted. Hopper – Refill, Shop & Cafe, 11 Hopper Street, Te Aro, Wellington City stocks the SoapNuts NZ brand that come only in a cardboard box with no inner plastic lining.
• Laundry/dish soap bars – get the Fair + Square brand at Good House Keeping, 287 Cuba Street, Wellington; Ethique laundry bars at Sustainability Trust‘s EcoShop, 2 Forrester’s Lane, Te Aro, Wellington; and No Tox Life dish washing block at The Minimal Co, 24 Elizabeth Street, Mount Victoria.
• You can get a metal soap shaker to go with your bar of dishsoap from The Minimal Co, 24 Elizabeth Street, Mount Victoria – just like nana used to use!
• The Axe, 193 Adelaide Road, Newtown – sells bars of laundry soap that come with a natural fibre/wooden scrubbing brush (all packaged only in a strip of paper and two cotton ties). They also sell a general household cleaner version so you can avoid buying various cleaning products in plastic bottles.
• Non-plastic clothes pegs – bamboo and/or stainless steel pegs available at Sustainability Trust‘s EcoShop, 2 Forrester’s Lane, Te Aro, Wellington; he Minimal Co, 24 Elizabeth Street, Mount Victoria; GoodFor, 23 Jessie Street, Te Aro; New World Tawa, 35 Oxford Street, Tawa; and Commonsense Organics, 147 Tory Street, Te Aro; 37 Rongotai Rd, Kilbirnie.

Ingredients for DIY cleaning products

• Baking soda – available unpackaged in bulk bins at Hopper – Refill, Shop & Cafe, 11 Hopper Street, Te Aro, Wellington City; Commonsense Organics, 147 Tory Street, Te Aro; GoodFor, 23 Jessie Street, Te Aro. 
• White Vinegar – locally-made Figgy & Co distilled white vinegar sold on tap at Hopper – Refill, Shop & Cafe, 11 Hopper Street, Te Aro, Wellington City. Other varieties of white vinegar also sold in bulk at Commonsense Organics; and GoodFor, 23 Jessie Street, Te Aro.
• Hopper – Refill, Shop & Cafe, 11 Hopper Street, Te Aro, Wellington City stocks a variety of other DIY cleaning/bathroom products ingredients, so go in and have a look around!
• Essential Oils – get your refills of essential oils (as well as other products) at The Wellington Apothecary, 110a Cuba Mall, Wellington CBD.
• Bars of castile soap, which you can use as a base for homemade dishwashing and laundry liquid (see how it works here) – locally made castile soap by Hopi is available at Four Square Kelburn, 97 Upland Road, Kelburn. The other option is Dr Bronner’s castile bars (made in the USA), which are available at Commonsense Organics, 147 Tory Street, Te Aro; 37 Rongotai Rd, Kilbirnie. Good House Keeping, 287 Cuba Street, Wellington also stocks dishwash bars made by Fair + Square. BUT you can also get locally-made liquid castile soap by Figgy & Co on tap at Hopper – Refill, Shop & Cafe, 11 Hopper Street, Te Aro, Wellington City.

NB: Many of the below items are stocked by The Hippie Straw – a local Wellington business focused on affordable reusables. They’ve got an online shop, but to avoid packaging cost/waste, find them and their products in person at the Harbourside Market on Sundays, and at the Wellington Underground Market on Jervois Quay.

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 Hopper – Refill, Shop & Cafe, 11 Hopper Street, Te Aro, Wellington City; Commonsense Organics, 147 Tory Street, Te Aro; 37 Rongotai Rd, Kilbirnie; Sustainability Trust‘s EcoShop, 2 Forrester’s Lane, Te Aro, Wellington; The Wellington Apothecary, 110a Cuba Mall, Wellington CBD; Foursquare Kelburn, 97 Upland Road, Kelburn; New World Thorndon, 150 Molesworth Street, Thorndon; Good House Keeping, 287 Cuba Street, Wellington; V1 Vegan Store, 207 Cuba Street, Te Aro; New World Wellington City, 279 Wakefield Street, Wellington; Wellworks Pharmacy, 75 Taranaki Street, Wellington; GoodFor, 23 Jessie Street, Te Aro; The Minimal Co, 24 Elizabeth Street, Mount Victoria; Unichem Pharmacy Kilbirnie, 37 Bay Road, Kilbirnie; and PAK’nSAVE Kilbirnie, 98 Rongotai Road, Kilbirnie.
• Dental Floss – Hopper – Refill, Shop & Cafe, 11 Hopper Street, Te Aro, Wellington City; Good House Keeping, 287 Cuba Street, Wellington; Commonsense Organics, 147 Tory Street, Te Aro; 37 Rongotai Rd, Kilbirnie; Sustainability Trust‘s EcoShop, 2 Forrester’s Lane, Te Aro, Wellington; and The Wellington Apothecary, 110a Cuba Mall, Wellington CBD 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 all stockists listed above – just pop the refill into your original metal/glass dispenser.
• Toothpaste – you can get locally made toothpaste and tooth tabs by SOLID Oral Care in glass jars that you return when empty for a refund (which get sterilised and reused by SOLID!) at Hopper – Refill, Shop & Cafe, 11 Hopper Street, Te Aro, Wellington City; and The Minimal Co, 24 Elizabeth Street, Mount Victoria. Hopper also stocks natural toothpaste powder unpackaged in a bulk dispenser, and tooth tablets by Dent Tab (BYO container for all of these). At Wellington Apothecary, 110a Cuba Mall, Wellington CBD you can get a variety of natural toothpastes made by Kerikeri company Nature Body, which come in glass jars that you can return to Nature Body, when empty, for sterilisation and refill.

Unpackaged Bars of Soap

It’s easy to get soap without packaging in Wellington. The following stores sell totally naked bars of soap:

• Hopper – Refill, Shop & Cafe, 11 Hopper Street, Te Aro, Wellington City (locally made by Underground Soapery).
• Commonsense Organics, 147 Tory Street, Te Aro; 37 Rongotai Rd, Kilbirnie
• Sustainability Trust‘s EcoShop, 2 Forrester’s Lane, Te Aro, Wellington
• The Wellington Apothecary, 110a Cuba Mall, Wellington CBD
• Good House Keeping, 287 Cuba Street, Wellington
• GoodFor, 23 Jessie Street, Te Aro
• The Minimal Co, 24 Elizabeth Street, Mount Victoria
• Koru Hub, 118 The Parade, Island Bay
• Village Green, 14 Ganges Road, Khandallah
• The Gift Shack, 4/210 Main Road, Tawa

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!

• Many places stock 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): Commonsense Organics, 147 Tory Street, Te Aro; 37 Rongotai Rd, Kilbirnie; Sustainability Trust‘s EcoShop, 2 Forrester’s Lane, Te Aro, Wellington; V1 Vegan Store, 207 Cuba Street, Te Aro; Cre8tiveworx, 217 Cuba Street, Wellington CBD; Wellworks Pharmacy, 75 Taranaki Street, Wellington; Farmers, 206-218 Lambton Quay; GoodFor, 23 Jessie Street, Te Aro; and 46-54 Bay Road, Kilbirnie; Life Pharmacy Kilbirnie, 26 Bay Road, Kilbirnie; Simon’s Pharmacy, 189 Main Rd, Tawa; and many supermarkets.
• If you’re into an all-in-one bar, you can get the Global Soap Shave, Shampoo and Body bar made with beer (:-D) from Commonsense Organics, 147 Tory Street, Te Aro; 37 Rongotai Rd, Kilbirnie; and Sustainability Trust‘s EcoShop, 2 Forrester’s Lane, Te Aro, Wellington (also stocks a range of shaving soaps).
• Check out local company Underground Soapery who make shampoo bars (among other things) – you can buy their products online, at Hopper – Refill, Shop & Cafe, or find them at one of the markets in the Wellington region.
• No Tox Life and locally made A&D bars of face soap, body soap, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant and more are sold at The Minimal Co, 24 Elizabeth Street, Mount Victoria.
• A couple of Wellington shops stock deodorant, dry shampoo, lip balm and/or sunscreen in compostable cardboard tubes. Brands like Nature Body, Aotearoad, and No.8 Essentials are sold at The Minimal Co, 24 Elizabeth Street, Mount Victoria; The Wellington Apothecary, 110a Cuba Mall, Wellington CBD; Hopper – Refill, Shop & Cafe, 11 Hopper Street, Te Aro, Wellington City; Commonsense Organics, 147 Tory Street, Te Aro; 37 Rongotai Rd, Kilbirnie; GoodFor, 23 Jessie Street, Te Aro; and Unichem Pharmacy Kilbirnie, 37 Bay Road, Kilbirnie.
• Good House Keeping, 287 Cuba Street, Wellington – stocks Simple Naked Soap shampoo bars, as well as Dunedin-made Pitstop Power deodorant bars in a home compostable cardboard box + home compostable baking paper (you can buy a plastic refillable tube of this brand first time off, but we reckon it’s unnecessary and a bar alone does just fine!)
• Commonsense Organics, 147 Tory Street, Te Aro; 37 Rongotai Rd, Kilbirnie – as well as the above, Commonsense also stock shampoo, conditioner and shaving bars made by Jeymar Soap & Body and Frankie Apothecary. 
• GoodFor, 23 Jessie Street, Te Aro – also stocks Fair + Square face cleansing, body and pet wash bars.

If you’d like to get unpackaged natural deodorant in bulk straight into your own containers, you can get this at Hopper – Refill, Shop & Cafe, 11 Hopper Street, Te Aro, Wellington City.

Reusable Menstrual Products

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

• Menstrual cups – stocked at Hopper – Refill, Shop & Cafe, 11 Hopper Street, Te Aro, Wellington City; Commonsense Organics, 147 Tory Street, Te Aro; 37 Rongotai Rd, Kilbirnie; Sustainability Trust‘s EcoShop, 2 Forrester’s Lane, Te Aro, Wellington; V1 Vegan Store, 207 Cuba Street, Te Aro; Unichem Cuba Mall, 122 Cuba Mall, Wellington; Madame Fancy Pants, 225 Cuba Street, Wellington CBD; Wellworks Pharmacy, 75 Taranaki Street, Wellington; GoodFor, 23 Jessie Street, Te Aro; New World Wellington City, 279 Wakefield Street, Wellington; New World Thorndon, 150 Molesworth Street, Thorndon; Unichem Pharmacy Kilbirnie, 37 Bay Road, Kilbirnie; and Life Pharmacy Kilbirnie, 26 Bay Road, Kilbirnie.
• Reusable, washable pads are available at Hopper – Refill, Shop & Cafe, 11 Hopper Street, Te Aro, Wellington City; and Sustainability Trust‘s EcoShop, 2 Forrester’s Lane, Te Aro, Wellington.
• Period-proof underwear is available at Commonsense Organics, 147 Tory Street, Te Aro; 37 Rongotai Rd, Kilbirnie

Shaving

Liquid Toiletries on Tap

• Hopper – Refill, Shop & Cafe, 11 Hopper Street, Te Aro, Wellington City – stocks locally-made liquid toiletries. When the store’s bulk dispensers are empty, they return back to the manufacturer for refill – zero waste!
• Good House Keeping, 287 Cuba Street, Wellington – stocks a wide range of Ecostore products on tap, as well as Neuma Organic shampoos.
• Commonsense Organics, 147 Tory Street, Te Aro; 37 Rongotai Rd, Kilbirnie also stocks Ecostore liquid bathroom products on tap.
• GoodFor, 23 Jessie Street, Te Aro
• The Minimal Co, 24 Elizabeth Street, Mount Victoria – Ecostore products, plus unpackaged clays in bulk dispensers!

Ingredients for DIY Toiletries/Cosmetics

• Baking Soda is an essential ingredient in lots of homemade toiletries such as toothpaste and deodorant. You can get it unpackaged in bulk from Hopper – Refill, Shop & Cafe, 11 Hopper Street, Te Aro, Wellington City; Commonsense Organics, 147 Tory Street, Te Aro; 37 Rongotai Rd, Kilbirnie; GoodFor, 23 Jessie Street, Te Aro. 
• The Wellington Apothecary, 110a Cuba Mall, Wellington CBD store stocks a lot of unpackaged, base ingredients that can be used for making your own cosmetics including refill options for oils (such as almond oil, argan oil, jojoba oil, etc.), organic essential oils, beeswax, cacao butter, epsom salts, and a large range of clays. Just BYO bottles and containers and ask for them to be filled!
• Hopper – Refill, Shop & Cafe, 11 Hopper Street, Te Aro, Wellington City stocks heaps of ingredients for DIY cosmetics/toiletries in bulk bins and they also run workshops on making these kinds of products, so definitely go down to the store, check it out, and ask for recipes!
• Commonsense Organics, 37 Rongotai Rd, Kilbirnie – stocks cosmetic oil refills in bulk dispensers (sweet almond and rosehip) – BYO bottles.
• You can also get unpackaged beeswax from Commonsense Organics, 147 Tory Street, Te Aro; 37 Rongotai Rd, Kilbirnie; Made Marion Craft, 166 Cuba St, Te Aro; The Wellington Apothecary, 110a Cuba Mall, Wellington CBD

Other

• Hopper – Refill, Shop & Cafe, 11 Hopper Street, Te Aro, Wellington City sells a few cosmetics/toiletries in bulk that you wouldn’t find just about anywhere else without packaging – e.g. deodorant, blush, zinc sunscreen, and more!
• Sunscreen in metal containers (bring tin back for a refund) at The Minimal Co, 24 Elizabeth Street, Mount Victoria
• Moisturiser: KD One, 220A Main Road, Tawa, make their own moisturiser and you can return the dispenser for re-use. 
• Cotton Buds – get bamboo home compostable buds, so you can avoid the single-use, unrecyclable plastic ones, from Commonsense Organics, 147 Tory Street, Te Aro; 37 Rongotai Rd, Kilbirnie; Sustainability Trust‘s EcoShop, 2 Forrester’s Lane, Te Aro, Wellington; V1 Vegan Store, 207 Cuba Street, Te Aro; Good House Keeping, 287 Cuba Street, Wellington; The Minimal Co, 24 Elizabeth Street, Mount Victoria; and Foursquare Kelburn, 97 Upland Road, Kelburn.
• Toilet Paper – Commonsense Organics, 147 Tory Street, Te Aro; 37 Rongotai Rd, Kilbirnie stocks Greencane and Bambaloo toilet paper (which comes in fully home compostable packaging). Hopper – Refill, Shop & Cafe, 11 Hopper Street, Te Aro; and GoodFor, 23 Jessie Street, Te Aro both stock Smartass toilet paper (also packaging in fully home compostable packaging). Also, most Supermarkets now stock EarthSmart toilet paper that comes in paper packaging.

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, organisations like Sustainability Trust in Wellington City, Cannons Creek Community Pantry in Cannons Creek, the Green Gardener in Kāpiti, and various community gardens around the region offer composting workshops.
  • Food scrap collections – If you’re in Wellington City, consider signing up to have your food waste picked up by Kaicycle for a fee – your scraps will then be composted and used to grow food at Kaicycle’s urban farm. If you are a business, you can sign up to Kaicycle too, or you can also sign up to have your food waste picked up by Kai to Compost or Organic Waste Management, both of whom take the food scraps to be commercially composted at the Southern Landfill (not dumped in the big hole in the ground!). Organic Waste Management services Lower Hutt and Porirua as well as Wellington City.
  • Dropping off your food scraps somewhere – If you’d like to break the food down yourself but haven’t got a garden to put into, you can buy your own bokashi bin and deliver the juices yourself to Kaicycle‘s urban farm, for free. OR, check if you can drop food scraps off at the compost bin in your local community garden. For example, if you live in Mount Vic, you’re welcome to drop your food scraps off to the compost at Innermost Gardens, or in Hataitai you can drop your scraps at the Hataitai Community Garden at the old Hataitai Bowling Club. There’s also a community compost at Aro Valley.
  • Edible business food waste – food that is still edible that goes to waste is a crying shame. Across the Wellington region there are some really excellent food redistribution services that are rescuing food from businesses that is not good enough to sell, but is still good enough to eat, and redistributing it to social justice organisations who can pass it on to people who need it most. These excellent organisations include Kaibosh (Wellingon City and Lower Hutt), The Free Store (Wellington City), The Share Shack (Aro Valley), Kiwi Community Assistance (Tawa) and Waiwaste (Wairarapa). So if you’re a business with extra food at the end of the day, consider getting in touch with one of these organisations. Also, a shout out to The Free Store, which is working on making its operation zero waste (!) – businesses that work with The Free Store can help them achieve this goal by not repackaging up the food they donate to the organisation.
• 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. For example, LT Campbell, 128 Tory St are excellent for appliance repairs. Looking for parts? The Recycle Centre and Second Treasures Shop takes apart broken gadgets and appliances and sells them or their usable parts on their Trademe account – it’s worth a good look! Also Selwyn Andrews in Kelburn (selwynandrews@hotmail.com) repairs various stereo items, does PAT testing and iPhone screen replacements, in addition to general appliance repairs, at very competitive rates. If you’d like to try your own hand at repairing your things, 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). The Newtown Tool Library runs these semi-regularly, as does the Carterton Fix It Lab.
  • 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 the Sustainability Trust‘s EcoShop, 2 Forrester’s Lane, Te Aro, Wellington; the Recycle Centre and Second Treasures Shop, at the Wellington Southern Landfill; Trash Palace, Broken Hill Road, Porirua; Earthlink, 25 Peterkin St, Wingate, Lower Hutt; Masterton, Carterton & Martinborough Transfer Stations (these drop-offs are FREE); or Wairarapa Resource Centre, 8 King Street, Masterton. For some of these items, you will have to pay to recycle them (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. E-waste drop offs for recycling is FREE at the Masterton, Carterton & Martinborough transfer stations.
• Tip Shops/Recycling + Reuse Shops – For all your recycling and reusing needs, look out for reuse shops at local landfills. There’s the Recycle Centre and Second Treasures Shop, at the Wellington Southern Landfill, Landfill Road (off Happy Valley Road); Trash Palace, Broken Hill Road, Porirua; Earthlink, 25 Peterkin St, Wingate, Lower Hutt; and Wairarapa Resource Centre, 8 King Street, Masterton. If you’ve got a hard-to-recycle item or something that’s still functional but which you no longer want, rather than chucking such things out, take them to one of these reuse shops and see if they’ll accept them. The Second Treasures Shop has loads of great items for sale on their Trademe account – it’s worth a good look! Furthermore, if you’re ever in need of a new one-off purchase – from materials for a home fit-out, cuts of wood, building materials, through to cutlery, appliances, furniture or other knick knacks – consider coming to shop here first, before going to buy something new. You might be amazed by what you find (and the low cost)…

Zero Waste Information and Support Networks

• Waste-ed – a local social enterprise formed to educate and advocate around waste consciousness in Wellington City. Waste-ed runs heaps of workshops, events, information sessions, and campaigns that provide information and solutions for Wellington’s waste, as well as actions individuals can take to reduce waste in their own lives. Waste-ed also has an online shop selling locally-made products that help with low-waste living (like reusable snack bags, cutlery wallets and beeswax wraps). Check out their website, which has heaps of resources and listings for upcoming waste-related events.
• Zero Waste Wellington, Zero Waste Wairarapa, Waste Free Kapiti Facebook pages/groups – these are great forums for sharing ideas about low-waste living in the local area, seeking tips or recommendations, or staying on top of local activities and actions that you might like to be a part of. Worth signing up to if you are a Facebook user.
• Plastic Free Kāpiti – a Facebook page set up by Paekākāriki local Rachel Benefield who lives plastic free with her family of 5. The page intends to support households and individuals aiming to live without plastic.
• 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 Te Upoko o te Ika is Te Kawa Robb – if you’re keen for some awhi with waste reduction, he’d be stoked to hear from you ?

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.
• Tool Libraries – no need for every person and his or her dog to own a set of tools when we can all share them and reduce the over-duplication of resources. There’s a tool library in Newtown, and a tool library in Cannons Creek run by the Cannons Creek Community Pantry.
• The Share Shack in Aro Valley – as well as a place you can get free rescued food that’s still good to eat, The Share Shack has a bunch of stuff for free like clothes, books, toys and lots of other household items and bits and bobs. There’s even a wall of ‘boomerang’ tools – just borrow and bring back. You can donate unwanted items in good condition to The Share Shack too.
• Crop Swap – 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. There’s a monthly crop swap in Wellington at the Newtown Cultural and Community Centre.
• Timebanking – Through timebanking you can share skills and services without the exchange of money, making it a great way to reduce waste on a budget because you can harness skills of creating and repairing that exist in your community (repairing broken clothes or electronics, for example), or having someone pass these skills on to you (how to garden, how to build). Perhaps you have some of these skills already that you could pass on to someone else for time credits? The Wellington Timebank is thriving and well worth getting involved with, if you aren’t already! There are also timebanks in Lower Hutt, Porirua, Upper Hutt, Wairarapa and one running out of the Common Unity Project Aotearoa in Epuni.
• The Sharing Shelf (outside The Petone Depot, 8/193 Jackson Street, Petone) – a wee shelf where anyone can come down and drop off produce, a book or some other useful item 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.

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 the Greater Wellington Region, including 16 throughout Wellington City, 9 on the Kāpiti Coast, 9 in Lower Hutt, and about 5 in Upper Hutt! Another gem is the Petone Food Gardens Network which is guerilla gardening and planting edible food all around Petone – yay! 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 Wellington Region. 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!
• Common Unity Project Aotearoa, 310 Waiwhetu Road, Epuni, Lower Hutt – the legend of CUPA spreads far and wide. We can say that it certainly goes above and beyond its reputation in real life. Community Unity Project Aotearoa is an absolutely incredible community centre that runs a huge range of projects that achieve many positive social outcomes, but which also advance zero waste ideas. The membership owned, on-site bulk store Common Grocer is a great example. The centre also runs a range of repurposing projects, rescuing materials that might otherwise go to waste and putting it to good use, for example, rescued timber which is available for purchase from the wood workshop for $1 a metre; and the Sew Good project that repurposes waste fabric into all manner of useful items (any person who is running a community project is welcome to come and take fabric from the fabric bank for a koha too). CUPA also raises organic seedlings which are available for purchase and is home to a seedbank, and they take care of a variety of community gardens, harvesting the goods and working with schools to use the produce for kids’ lunches! There’s also a bike workshop on site and a range of repurposed bicycles available for hire (either for koha or for an exchange of volunteering hours) and a sharing shed that will soon be home to things like camping gear that people can borrow (rather than having to buy new equipment). There are a thousand and one other projects that CUPA runs that achieve multiple positive outcomes, bringing the community together, sharing skills, having fun AND reducing waste. No wonder people all over the country are abuzz about this place! Definitely check it out
• The Petone Depot, 8/193 Jackson Street, Petone – an awesome social enterprise in the heart of Petone that’s getting behind some great reducing initiatives, from supporting Boomerang Bags and the Petone Food Gardens Network, to hosting the monthly CreateSpace where locals who are into anything creative (including crafts, growing, repairing, and arts) can get together to share projects, brainstorm new ones, or have a chance to take part in one of the community’s creative projects (including sewing and growing).
• Good House Keeping, 287 Cuba Street, is a great store focused on fostering DIY, mending and repairing. The store stocks all manner of items to help you get good at making and mending, to become more resourceful and chuck less stuff out! They’ve really thought about sustainable options in great detail (even supplying bike oil on tap – so you can refill BYO bottles!) Definitely check this store out next time you’re in town, and have a yarn with the owners Lisa or Mark about their tips for resourceful, sustainable living.
• Mechanical Tempest, 224-234 Riddiford Street, Newtown – got a bike that needs fixing? Found a beat up bike somewhere that looked like it might be get chucked out if not for some TLC? Want to do a bike up to save it from landfill? Have no idea what to do or where to start? Check out Mechanical Tempest – a not-for-profit bike workshop space. Anyone can come and work on their bike here and learn the essential skills for doing so with the support of knowledgeable on-hand volunteers. Sharing tools and a space reduces waste, and getting up to scratch on bike repair techniques will save you money, and potentially also a bike that would otherwise get biffed.
• Vinnies Re Sew, 32 Rongotai Road, Kilbirnie – a textile recycle/upcycling initiative running out of St Vincent De Paul’s in Kilbirnie. Re Sew takes donated clothing which is not good enough to sell from the Vinnies op shops across Wellington and salvages it as fabric and/or upcycles it. Apart from helping to divert tonnes of textiles from landfill, the programme also provides a place for anyone to come to learn how to sew or to hang out and be creative or to develop work training opportunities.
• Pins ‘N’ Needles, 6 Perry Street, Masterton – got some broken clothes but not sure how to repair them? Bring them into Linda at Pins n Needles for repairing! Not only will your clothes be as good as new, but any waste fabric from the fixing process, Linda will upcycle into a new creation – thus reducing as much textile waste from landfill as possible. Awesome! You can even check out the store to buy upcycled clothing instead of buying new or even secondhand – the clothes Linda makes for children are just divine! If you’re keen to repair your clothes yourself but just need a bit advice, drop in to Pins n Needles because Linda will surely be able to point you in the right direction 🙂
• Resilient Carterton – a fabulous umbrella organisation bringing together groups and people that are taking actions that improve resilience in the Carterton community. By and large, a more resilient, self-sufficient community with a thriving local economy is a less wasteful community that is more resourceful and less dependent on imports of packaged goods and cheap throwaways. Have a look at some of the groups, individuals and projects that Resilient Carterton is supporting and promoting.
• Sewing, crafts, knitting, crochet – We’re of the view that sewing, crafts, knitting and crochet are all key skills for combating waste in our lives (whether it’s the ability to make your own produce bags and beeswax wraps, knit a dishcloth, or repair broken clothes). In Greater Wellington you can find great organisations where you can get involved to either learn or pass on those skills, complete community sewing projects, attend workshops, or simply complete your own sewing projects in the company of others. Great examples are the Sew Good Cooperative at the Common Unity Project Aotearoa, 310 Waiwhetu Road, Epuni, Lower Hutt or Vinnies Re Sew in Wellington City. Thimbles and Threads, 84 Main Street, Upper Hutt also runs lots of affordable sewing classes and is generally very supportive of low-waste, upcycling fabric initiatives! Joining a group that is sewing reusable bags to give out to the community is also 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). For example, check out your local Boomerang Bags group – there are branches in Wellington City, Petone, Lower Hutt, Upper Hutt, Featherston, and Martinborough.