Click photo to enlarge
Summer Forgie (left) and Waitaki Resource Exchange
co-ordinator Maxine Woodhouse use discarded bubble wrap to
protect art work to be auctioned by St Kevins College later
this month. Photo by David Bruce.
An art auction at St Kevins College is the first to
benefit from a new scheme in the Waitaki district aimed at
encouraging people to look at their waste as a resource.
The Waitaki Resource Exchange, administered by the Waitaki
Resource Recovery Trust with funding from the Waitaki
District Council, wants businesses and organisations to
reconsider dumping rubbish which someone else could use.
The exchange was launched yesterday and had its first success
when St Kevins College collected a pile of bubble wrap for an
art auction on February 20 at the Woolstore.
The auction has about 50 art works by pupils and prominent
artists, including Grahame Sydney and Colin Wheeler.
One of the organisers of the event, Summer Forgie, said the
bubble wrap was needed to protect the art works.
The school had looked at buying it, but it was going to be
very expensive and eat into the proceeds from the auction.
She approached the resource exchange, which had two wool
bales of bubble wrap from an Oamaru business.
Yesterday, it went to the school to be reused.
Exchange co-ordinator Maxine Woodhouse said there had already
been a lot of interest in the exchange - 10 businesses had
contacted her before the launch to learn more about it.
A newsletter is being prepared to distribute to businesses.
The exchange is listed on the website www.resourcewaitaki.co.nz.
david.bruce@odt.co.nz
