Not many people see the value in waste quite like Kirsty Quickfall does.
Kirsty embraces waste reduction in her role as the Resource Recovery Advisor at Hamilton City Council. A key part of her job is to help people reduce the amount of waste they generate inside and outside the Council.
The first time Kirsty appreciated the value of waste was when she was visiting Oregon 30 years ago. Here she saw people picking up rubbish and putting it in shopping carts to sell at recycling centres, making a little income while also cleaning up the streets.
Kirsty has also helped bring about the new rubbish and recycling service set to debut in July 2020. This service is just one of the 33 actions proposed in the six-year Waste Plan developed two years ago by the Council.
The new 2020 rubbish and recycling service has been five years in the making and Kirsty hopes it is one of the tools that will help our great river city make long-term change. “So much work has gone into the project, Hamilton has put itself out there and we want the community to really embrace it.”
Taking an advisory role with the new service project, Kirsty loves to demonstrate the power of conversation and connecting people to enable solutions for waste related problems across the Council which is Kirsty’s self-proclaimed happy place. “I love making waste sexy! [Hamilton City Council is] the place where I can make my little change in the world.”
Beginning her New Zealand work life at Kaikoura District Council, where she was tasked with extending the life of the local landfill by adopting a zero-waste district wide policy, Kirsty has worked in various private and public sustainability roles before arriving at the Hamilton City Council three years ago.
“When I started here, waste minimisation was on the back burner and certainly not considered a priority.”
Kirsty has since elevated the subject of waste within the Council. “We [the Council] have to be walking the talk, leading by example, otherwise we can’t expect the community to – it’s as simple as that.”
For Kirsty, waste minimisation is all about taking responsibility for your own waste. She says it is best to make small changes at first. “It’s as easy as not littering, or when you buy groceries, buy in bulk. Be careful and clever with what you purchase.”
Kirsty has also made several small, achievable changes to reduce her waste output and save money. For instance, she now uses a soda stream instead of buying bottles of soda whenever she craves a fizzy drink.
It is never too late to start thinking about your waste and Kirsty advises anyone wanting to learn more to visit fightthelandfill.co.nz/
“It’s about giving people the tools to take better responsibility. Effective behaviour change is encouraging people and bringing them onboard because people don’t know what they don’t know.”