Memories of swimming in her local stream as a child inspired Emma’s commitment to her local environment and to reducing her rubbish. She tells her story:
“As a girl in the 1970’s we used to swim in the Swanson Stream in West Auckland. I recall how healthy and free it was back then – outdoor activity like walking there and back, swimming all day, a bit of fruit to snack on, heaps of teenage ‘social skills’ development!”
“When I told my children about it, they said they wished they could do that. But the stream had been neglected, so when we visited it I was shocked to see how full of rubbish it was and how weeds were choking plants along the banks.”
That was a major factor in getting Emma involved in a local community environmental project, Waitakere’s Project Twin Streams Ranui-Massey where she learnt a lot about stream restoration.
“When the clearing up started, a whole lot of things were dragged out, including dead animals and a car. It wasn't pristine in my day but no-one was ill, got sores or complained about its condition,” she says.
Extensive areas alongside the Swanson and other local streams have now been weeded, thousands of plants put in through community planting days and hundreds of bags of rubbish removed.
“These are great community projects to be involved in and I’d encourage others to seek out similar projects in their area. It’s great to talk to people about the days when you could swim in the stream.”
She says lots of people have come forward with their stories – all of them with a connection to the water.
“That rubbish in the stream also got me thinking about how I dealt with my own rubbish at home. I got involved in a local sustainability programme where I learnt about things like managing household waste and reducing my rubbish through composting all my garden clippings and vegetable waste, and by improving my recycling.”
“My two teenage boys and I now only put out a rubbish bag every fortnight instead of weekly, and even then it’s sometimes just three-quarters full.”
“The compost goes to good use in my expanding vegetable garden. I hadn’t realised how rich the compost could be – it’s beautiful.”
“I’ve learnt more about recycling so now I do loads of it. It means it’s not going to the dump or ending up back in the stream. I also put twice the amount of plastic in my recycling bin because I’ve learnt more about which plastics can go in it.”
“I don’t throw as many glass jars into the recycling either, because I store them and then take them up north to the whanau who have an abundance of fruit trees and veggies. Sometimes I even get the odd jar of pickle or jam back!”
