Kaitiakitanga - Guardianship of the environment that supports our culture

For many years our waste has been dumped in a poorly managed tip site in the valley, where leechates can be washed almost directly into the Whirinaki River. We know that asbestos from mills that were decommissioned were dumped here and probably other industrial toxins. This is part of the Minginui Toxin Remediation Project

After the field trip to Xtreme Waste at Raglan we have decided that this can not continue the way it is. Our Whanau Support Youth group who arranged this trip as part of a holiday program in 2004 is looking to make a start at this by organising a recycling scheme starting with the plastics, glass, cans and other things that can be reused.
Read what else we found at Raglan too

Our Minginui Village Council has its own weekly rubbish collection so it is not difficult for us to initiate our own recycling and transfer depot if we have the bins and WDC carrying the rest away to approved Landfill sites.

As part of the Village concept plan that UNITEC facilitated in 2004 a space was allocated for a very clean and tidy recycling / transfer station in the corner of the old forestry compound.

Moana recycling Moana bins

An example seen at Moana - Lake Brumner, South Island a much bigger place than Minginui.

We have again contacted the Zero Waste Trust to see if they can help us find a suitable source of bins for household Recycling

Outcomes expected:

Community awareness of need for recycling resources and commitment to participate
Local Processes to capture and sort recyclable items to reduce landfill requirements
Local processes to dispose of organic waste. eg composting or fed to pigs etc
Ensure that any ongoing landfill site is properly managed and not a breeding ground for rats and forest pests.
Arrangements will be in place with Regional Council for ongoing disposal of non recycle-able waste.
With other schools put pressure via govt etc on manufacturers to eliminate unsustainable packaging and materials

Start Date: April 04
Expected Completion:

Budget: None Available at present

Nominal Project Leader: Andy Blick - Minginui Village Council

Project Team:

Issues Register:

Flag	Date:	Issue:	Action	By	Signoff
	Feb 04	Needing to get some action	April 04 Whanau Support Youth Group taking up cause - did not happen but a student volunteered to white a report on it.	AB

Progress Log

Date	Details of event or action	By
Jan 04	Whanau Support arrange a holiday trip to Xtreme Waste in Raglan to see what they do	RR
Feb 04	Meet with WCC recycling centre at Murupara to build relationship and processes Meet with school to see if students could do a project on this and do something to get it started	ER
Mar 04	Runanga Community Facilitator (Pene) arranged meeting and contact with WDC support people .	PO
Apr 04	Whanau Support Youth group taking up the project supported by Rusty Rangi.	RR
May 04	Environmental Studies Student from BOP Polytechnic did recycling study and report	AB
Sept 04	Enviroschools recycling project article left with community and Kura for ideas.	PG
Sept 04	Car Crusher company took cars and cleaned up the tip face, later covered by roading contractor following slips on main road.	AB
Oct 04	Made connection with Jo Knight, Chief Exec Zero Waste to see what support is available to community	PG
10/12/05	Meeting with Whakatane District Council and others - need now to close tip and organise alternatives	AB
	Many meetings with Env BOP and Whakatane DC in the meantime but no action, including a email from Env BOP reminds WDC that under three Acts they operate under they must take responsibility for closing the existing tip and providing other services. The Manager of the Transfer Station at Murupara offered to help where practical.	Many
May 08	Good News - Students from Te Kura Toitu o Te Whaiti Nui-a-Toi carry out cleanup of local roads and Minginui Village to start people thinking.	LM
7/7/08	Good News - Community members helped by Kura students did a cleanup of old cars around the village that were collected and taken by scrap merchants	BA
8/7/08	Yellow Flag: Local people advise that many from outside the valley come in trucks to collect firewood bringing their rubbish to dump here rather than paying at their local transfer stations
18/7/08	This webpage updated with our dump pictures and tudy recycling centres seen at other places	PG
1/8/08	MfE report on Minginui Toxin Remediation project provided by Env BOP thanks - includes dumpsite
1/8/08	Yellow Flag: Now looking to Whakatane District Council to support this please

NOTICES AND ACHIEVEMENTS:

Our gift to you - download our Free Whirinaki Wall Calendar

"Re-designing our future" youth forum with Michael Braungart - 30 Aug

What Andree a sustainability writer discovered about Kaitiakitanga
Check out our school's Energy Monitoring / Weatherstation project
WEMZ - The Whirinaki Ecological Restoration Zone - a project with DOC
Building our new visitor information kiosk on the main road
Take a photo tour through our valley see restoration work needed
Pending - our Whirinaki Centre, Nursary and Recycling Projects
Celebrate what our friends at Hokianga Harbourcare are doing
Our Network's Mycorestoration Research Project - Fungi and mushroom
Thanks MfE for a big toxin cleanup on our millsites - July 07
Thanks TPK for facilitating Govt support for Minginui initiatives
Our Community Digital Strategy pending - Whirinaki Interactive - Dec 06
Our Lopez friends help Raglan initiate an affordable housing program
Prince Andrew adopts our Kiwi, Princess Beatrice on Mokoia Is Mar 07
Our Project to upgrade our water supply in Minginui Mar 07
Our network on the Kiwi Youth Voice learning journey to US. Mar 07
Our network at Youth Voice Digital Earth Summit on Sustainbility Aug 06
We welcomed Hunter Lovins 7-9 July 06, VIDEO view NZ tour resources
Thanks Waikato University for help with broadband 05
Thanks Housing Corp, house painting and marae restoration teams
Go Tramping in Whirinaki. See Kaka, Kiwi, Weka, Robin, Blueduck
Report Living Organisation workshops. Tipu Ake presented worldwide 05
Report Hikoi to Indigenous Knowledges Conf , Well, NZ. June 05
Thanks to UNITEC Architecture Students for help with town plans 04
Report on Sustainable Resources Conf, Colorado 04
Report on PMI Global Forum, Los Angeles Tipu Ake paper 04
Report on Sharing Indigenous Wisdom Conf, Wisconsin, June 04
Int and local visitors attend Tipu Ake Retreat March 04 See report
MPs Horomia and Mallard open our new merged area school Jan 04
Trip to Whaingaroa Env Gp Raglan, Jan04 learnings, VIDEO view

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