A recycling idea that failed
The folks at Waikawa Beach are keen recyclers. The Horowhenua District Council a few months ago switched us from one crate for everything, collected weekly, to a crate for glass and a wheelibin for hard plastics and paper, collected every second week. Bins were delivered to most, or perhaps all, properties.
After the initial confusion this change inevitably brought, most folks now use each container for the correct materials, and quite often also put them out for collection on the right day. Our Waikawa Beach Ratepayers Association added a calendar entry on the home page of our website to help things along.
Until a couple of years ago the Horowhenua District Council would send a recycling truck down to the beach every Saturday over summer to help the holiday visitors dispose appropriately of all the plastic, paper and glass that Christmas inevitably attracts. This was a fabulous service and was very popular.
Then, as always, things changed and in December 2018 a large shipping container with slots for different recyclable materials was unexpectedly stationed on Hank Edwards Reserve. There was no longer a Saturday truck.
Initially this seemed to be a great gift, but its popularity is its downfall. People arrive day and, yes, night, to smash their bottles and stuff the other slots full to overflowing. And that causes the residents across the road a huge amount of stress, often disrupting their sleep.
Some few people also fail to understand the concept of recycling and believe the container is a great place for dumping other rubbish too.
But, back to the noise issue. Waikawa Beach is a small place. There is only one public park, and it's between numerous dwellings and the river. The container is in place from mid-December to mid-March: 3 months. That's a long time for those residents to suffer the noise and inconvenience of the recycling container.
The Ratepayers Association is consulting with the Council about alternative locations for the container, but no suggestions yet fit with legal requirements and we can't have the Saturday truck any more.
So during 2020 the community will discuss whether they even want a summer recycling station, especially now almost everyone has bins that are regularly emptied.
The good idea in theory turned out to be a real problem in practise.
Published in Ōtaki Today, March 2020.
14,000 litres of clean fresh water to fill our tank. Now we have a declared drought and with no real rain forecast and a pandemic to consider, it was time to get the worryingly low drinking water tank filled. Now brim full.
The entire North Island… declared as being in drought
Whew! I took a photo at the beach but at home my iPhone 11 refused to turn on. This worked:
- Quickly press and release volume up button.
- Quickly press and release volume down button.
- Press and hold side/power button until iPhone shows apple logo.
Every day I check the wind flow map for Aotearoa New Zealand and our little spot on it. Today shows the wind from the south being split and then funneling through past Wellington. We’re in a more sheltered spot 90 Km north of Wellington.
Hmmm, I find Batwoman grim and very hard with all the torture and whatnot. Yet the episode Grinning from Ear to Ear was an interesting exploration of issues of identity and honesty, epecially around trust and coming out as lesbian to family.
And lo, two trim and tidy dogs. 🐶 Sasha and Oshi after the groom.
Shaggy dogs before grooming today. 🐶 Bonus photo from March 2007 when they were only a few months old and Oshi’s face was all black.
Good to see this plan to make NZ predator free by 2050
Department of Conservation … goals for Predator Free 2050… focus on … possums, … rats, stoats, ferrets and weasels.
That’s a great start. I wonder how it will affect rabbits? We have so many unwanted predators here.
This 300 page PDF by a pro photographer was definitely worth the US$13 I paid for it: Secrets To Stunning Wildlife Photography
I’m looking forward to trying out the numerous practical tips, including the one for getting better photos of my all-black pet(s).
At last I know what makes some of the tracks on the beach. Sand scarab beetle
Pericoptus truncatus is the largest of the New Zealand native scarab beetles. … The larvae, pupae and adults are common amongst the roots of marram grass and under or within driftwood.
I should remember this when I’m so often tired: Ringing in ears keeps brain more at attention, less at rest
with chronic tinnitus, the precuneus is more connected to the dorsal attention network … not truly at rest… This could explain why many report being tired more often.
Watching Charlie’s Angels 2019. It’s a lightweight undemanding movie for a Sunday evening.
The literal tail ends of the RNZAF Black Falcons on their way to the Wellington Pride Parade. I think these must be the T-6C Texan II.
Oshi approves of the new rug for the front door. The rug should add a bit of colour for winter. 🐶
Last night I set up my old iPad Air 2 with a motion sensor app in the garage and caught a million pics of the ginger kitten before the battery died. It seems there was also a hedgehog visit. 🐈
3-yearly cervical smear. ✅ Tetanus booster shot. ✅ Shingles vaccine. ✅ Breakfast at Taper. ✅ Now it’s time for a cuppa and to enjoy the gloriously sunny day. My arm’s starting to get sore…
Flight. Helicopter. Hawk.
The transformative power of a 3-letter word
I was so concerned by an article in the Horowhenua Chronicle today I immediately wrote a Letter to the Editor.
We have a group of refugees coming to Levin soon, but one 'concerned citizen' is worried that we don't have enough for ourselves already so perhaps the refugees would be better off elsewhere, for their own good, of course. I've added a screenshot of the article, but will include the text below too. The article was titled Can Levin handle refugees?
Here's my response to the article in the Horowhenua Chronicle, Page 6, Wednesday 04 March 2020:
A natural response to change is to worry about the risks it brings to our lives: will we have what we need to survive?
Survival is a central concern for all living things.
But rather than asking
Can Levin handle refugees?we can use a simple little 3-letter word to empower ourselves and transform our thinking. We can ask insteadHow can Levin handle refugees?Rather than explore all the possible threats to ourselves and perhaps forget our human compassion for others, we can focus on what's needed to help refugees.
We are stronger together and diversity is an essential part of ensuring that life continues and prospers.
Cansimply focuses on what we believe are our weaknesses whileHow canbrings solutions.How can we help the refugees arriving on our doorstep?
The article, Horowhenua Chronicle 4 Mar 2020 By Paul Williams:
Can Levin handle refugees?
Horowhenua will welcome 90 Colombian refugees wanting a new life and a new home in a few months’ time. But a Levin woman wonders if the community really wants them.
Michelle Weastell was so concerned with the reaction on social media to the announcement of the refugee arrival that she has planned a public gathering to see if those comments were idle chatroom rabble or real concern.
“Facebook doesn’t change anything,” she said.
Weastell is wanting anyone with concerns about the refugee intake to gather at the Village Green in Levin Thursday night at 6pm and put their names to a petition.
She had no problem with refugees coming, but wonders if they will be set up to fail in a community that is bursting at the seams.
“It’s nothing about their circumstances because they are horrific, but can we support them properly?” she asked.
“Are we setting them up to fail? What do we actually have to offer them, without taking away from our own community?”
“It’s important to get across that it’s nothing against anybody, it’s just timing and what’s best for them and the community.”
Weastell said she had heard that different areas of New Zealand like Hawke’s Bay were short of seasonal workers and that maybe the refugees would be better off there.
With recent statistics showing more people living in poverty, soaring house prices, and competition for jobs, Weastell helps a lot of young families out that were struggling to find jobs.
“I see a lot of hardship.”
She had heard of a family that lost their home in a fire in Levin recently that went to a local motel seeking lodgings, she said.
But they were turned away as there was no room, and she believed all the motel vacancies were taken by people and families temporarily put there by the Ministry of Social Development.
Weastell said she was born in New Zealand and her parents were both born in New Zealand, but her grandparents came from the United Kingdom.
Her concerns echo those of former Mayor Michael Feyen, who has long questioned Horowhenua as a suitable region for refugees.
Feyen, a first-generation New Zealander born of Dutch immigrants, is concerned there isn’t enough suitable housing or jobs for them to prosper and is afraid they are doomed to failure.
Update: the letter was published on Friday 06 March 2020.
This is exciting, scary stuff: using non-printing zero-width characters to hide information, perhaps as a digital watermark. BTW: BBEdit displays the characters easily.
Via Chris Aldridge.
