Day 10: Sustainability Trust

The sustainability trust is making great strides for the environment. We are reminded of the waste pyramid, some of which’s guiding principles are valued in the following order: reduce, reuse, recycle, and only landfill as a last resort. With a high emphasis on recycling as a sustainability effort, it sometimes feels that businesses forget the two principles preceding this: reduce and reuse. Recycling can be challenging in its own right, with a reliance on people following at times confusing rules, so I am of the opinion that reduce and reuse are options we must pursue more for a green future. The Sustainability Trust is taking steps to eliminate waste through exactly these two principles. They regularly host repair workshops for the community to come in and fix old clothing, appliances, etc. In this way people learn to reduce their overall consumption by not buying an entirely new item, and they also learn to reuse materials from some products as construction parts to repair other products. We were also fortunate to visit the curtain donation room and learn more about the importance and lack-there-of of proper heating conditions in Wellington homes. Again, the curtain donation is putting the reduce and reuse principles into place. Businesses like hotels or individual families have the opportunity to donate old curtains to The Sustainability Trust, which are then repurposed to help heat homes of needy families. Similarly, this effort focuses more on reusing old goods rather than recycling them for something else. The Sustainability Trust works hard to ensure that as few fabrics as possible end up in the landfill, with the only exception being extremely moldy items. Thus, although The Sustainability Trust does make an effort to recycle difficult items like bottle caps and lids, I am pleased that they recognize the two seemingly forgotten aspects that come before: reduce and reuse.