PVA’s ‘Food Hub Gang’ wins Zero Waste Awards 2024!!
The Rangatahi, Rangawhenua, Rangatangata award celebrates ‘leaders in the making’ (individuals or groups of rangatahi / young people, 21 years and under) showing commitment and leadership to reducing waste in their communities.
Ayla Brox, Alena Lui and Nazihah Buksh, long time Whenua to Whenua volunteers of Pacific Vision Aotearoa were nominated for the Rangatahi Leadership Zero Waste award 2024 and won!!
We are so proud of our girls and believe receiving this award was very well deserved! They devoted their Thursday evenings to reduce ‘waste’ from going to landfill despite being students, fresh in and out of high school. Even with clashing Uni classes and after school commitments, they did their best to ensure the food scrap collections from local New World to Papatoetoe Food Hub were never missed.
When asking Nazihah why she shows up, she said: “At first I used to show up because of my passion to protect the environment, but the more I went I got a new sense of belonging in my community. A place I felt like I belonged with amazing people surrounding me to do better and be the best version of myself. It helped me form a deeper connection with the environment around me and a new appreciation for not just how beautiful the environment is but how powerful it is in bringing people together.”.
Ayla said: “I show up because I enjoy giving back to my community and trying to make the world a better place. Environmentalism is important to me, especially as a Pasifika person. We see destruction happening around the world due to pollution and excessive waste, so being able to make a dent makes me feel more at ease.”.
When asked what she thinks of the collections she said: “I think it's great. I think every supermarket and food service should have an initiative like this to save tonnes of food waste being sent to landfill. I enjoyed making new connections with like-minded people, and believe I've made friends that'll last a lifetime.”.
In just 6 months, these 3 girls diverted a whopping 1.5 tonnes of perfectly good ‘waste’ from going to landfill and turned it into rich compost which has already seen community gardens benefit from the recycled nutrients, completing the circle that is ‘whenua to whenua’: from the land, returned back to the land.
They are leading the way for the younger upcoming generation, showing not only is composting beneficial to the environment and for a resilient future but also that it can be fun and a way to connect to others and te taiao on a more meaningful and deeper level.
Special thanks to PVA’s Ana for nurturing and supporting the girls to make this mahi possible.
PVA had the added honour of growing the Zero waste ‘trophies’ made of the humble and ancestral Hue.
Flick through the photos below to see more from their glorious night.