Eco Tip of the Month

THE GREEN SPOT - Eco Tip of the Month

Season’s Greetings! Christmas can be a very wasteful time of year, so I urge you to rethink some of your festive habits and put an eco-spin on your traditions for some really good cheer this summer. How about reusable bags for wrapping your gifts in each year? The ones shown are from Nan’s Corner, which you can find on Facebook, or try making your own? You could also save boxes to decorate and reuse as gift boxes that look great under the tree, or reuse the paper that you get as packaging in your received courier items. My kids enjoy decorating and personalising the paper in lieu of a card.

Foil wraps and cellophane should be given an extremely wide berth and although paper wrap that you buy in the shops is better, it usually comes in a plastic sleeve and is still an unnecessary use of trees when we can be reusing what we already have. Some people have a great habit of keeping and reusing carefully-used wrapping paper for several years. Don’t be afraid of giving someone a present with crinkly old paper wrapping, as this is the way forward and you’ll be considered very ‘on trend’! Especially if it is tied up with string, which is compostable, as are certain gummed paper tapes.

Another trend is the Japanese fabric wrapping called Furoshiki, for which you can find all sorts of tips on YouTube. Why not make the wrapping part of the gift by use of a scarf or tea towel?

And, as for the contents, I heartily recommend you consider second-hand options and supporting local companies and businesses that focus on sustainability. For example, if you are going to buy candles or soaps, opt for the ones that are cruelty-free and aren’t in plastic packaging.

Hayley Crawford

Kids on the Hibiscus Coast were shining bright this year at Illuminate Church’s second annual community Glow Party. Hosted by the local Silverdale church on 31 October as a safe and friendly alternative to Halloween, the event was well attended by around 580 children and their families, where they enjoyed a glow-in-the-dark disco, carnival-type games, multiple bouncy castles, sausage sizzles, face painting and lots and lots of lollies! Entry to the event was by gold coin donation and the BBQs operated on a similar basis.

These combined initiatives on the night raised $1,800, all of which was donated to another local charity doing great things in the region; that being the HBC Youth Centre in Orewa. Such was the success of the night that the Church will make this an annual event and look to support a different local charity each year.

theMillwatermag Illuminate Church Glow Party 2018

www.illuminatechurch.org