Small steps

Bulk buying

Green Ideas editorial team 29 May, 2013

Welcome to the small steps page, where we celebrate the little things our readers do to live more sustainably. Last issue we asked what you thought of buying in bulk as a way of cutting down on packaging waste. Here’s what some of our readers had to say about their experience of bulk buying – plus some other great waste-busting tips.

Ann Melrose

Ann sent in the above picture of rubbish she picked up on a short walk in Auckland.

"So many people throw their rubbish from their cars. I collected this rubbish along Mt Smart Road, from Royal Oak to Athens Road, one side of the street A 20-minute walk."

Pennie O’Connor

Penny wrote in to say she’d just started buying in bulk and had noticed some strange things with price. At Countdown, where she shops, she noticed cashew nuts were much more expensive in bulk than prepacked, so she sent them a letter:

“I’m delighted to see the bulk bins in Countdown. I would, however, like to get an explanation for the HUGE difference in price for the bulk bin cashew nuts, compared to packaged ones. Countdown’s bulk bin roasted & salted cashew nuts are $33.90 per kg. But Countdown value brand 1kg roasted & salted cashew nuts are $15.99.

The cynic in me thinks that Countdown are taking advantage of the fact that people ASSUME bulk buying is cheaper… I do hope that you can take the time to reply.”

Countdown responded saying that there had been a special on the prepacked items that week. Normally they sell for $21.99. That’s still cheaper than the bulk items, but Countdown said economies of scale meant their prepackaged nuts were cheaper – plus the bulk product was better quality and therefore more expensive.

“I’m not happy with the response, but what can you do?” said Pennie.

Editor replies: We agree, it’s a shame to see bulk items costing more. If you really want to avoid packaging it pays to shop around. The regular price at Bin Inn for salted roasted cashews is $26.90 per kg – and we found them as cheaply as $19.90 per kg on special at Browns Bay. You can bring your own jars and fill them up at no cost, meaning there’s no packaging waste at all.

Pia Bradshaw

Pia, a teacher, wrote in to tell us how her students in Room 2 at Ross Intermediate, Palmerston North were really keen to take a small step to reduce plastic waste:

“The food scraps from all 20 classes at Ross Intermediate are collected at the end of the day by the students in Room 2, for our compost bin and the worm farm. Until now we were recycling plastic supermarket bags by using them as bin-liners. All 20 plastic bag bin liners were put in our regular rubbish bin. After they have had fermenting food sitting in them all day, it can get pretty stinky. On YouTube we found a video of a 6-year-old in Ottawa, Canada, who showed us how to make bin-liners out of newspapers.

“So our teacher collected the leftover newspapers from a local dairy, and we started to make bin-liners for all the classes in the school. No more stinky plastic grocery bag. The newspaper bin-liners can go in to the worm farm and compost bin.”

Visit www.tinyurl.com/ylzaba2 to see how they make paper bin liners in Ottawa.

Take the next Green Ideas small step

In the next issue of the magazine we’re looking at transport. Have you started walking to work? Cycling? Or have you tried a car-pooling site? Tell us about your experience by commenting below or emailing [email protected].