Herbalist Sara Mertens celebrates our hottest native herb and peppers us with ideas on how to use it in the kitchen and medicine cabinet.
If you are unfamiliar with the native flora of Aotearoa’s bush and go walking with somebody who wants to treat you to a “taste of the bush”sensation, they will undoubtedly invite you to nibble on a leaf from an attractively coloured shrub. A nibble is all it takes! It will be an unforgettable moment as your taste buds encounter a peppery punch not unlike chilli spice.
Horopito, our native pepper tree boasts an ancient endemic New Zealand genus, Pseudowintera, and a primitive flower structure originating from the Winteraceae plant family. Unsurprisingly, introduced animals, such as wild deer find the hot-tasting leaves unpalatable, a quality that has nurtured its longevity in our forests. Similarly, it is fungi resistant and insects are not attracted to it.
There are four endemic horopito species. Pseudowintera colorata (pictured above) is a shrub variety that grows up to 3.5m tall and has distinctly identifiable foliage of red splotches on the topside of the pale green leaf, with a blue-grey underside. P. axillaris is not as peppery, has no colourful markings and grows 7m tall. P. colorata and P. axillaris are often found growing in the same regions but in different parts of the bush due to P. colorata thriving in areas of adequate light to enhance its highly coloured leaves, and P. axillaris preferring cold, damp conditions. The other two horopito species are harder to find. P inseparata is critically endangered and only grows in Northland and P. traversii is found on the West Coast of the South Island and near Nelson.
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Apothecary
P. colorata is known for its medicinal uses, and forms an important part of rongoā Māori. The fresh leaves can be chewed or simmered in water to make a medicinal decoction drink for tooth and stomach aches. Circulatory and respiratory conditions, such as coughs, colds and asthma, were once managed with this warming herb. It can also be used topically to treat skin diseases. The leaves and tender branches were steeped in water and used in a lotion for ringworm, and the bruised foliage was applied as a warming poultice to wounds and joint injuries.
In the early 1980s, University of Canterbury research isolated the active constituent polygodial, which gives the distinct peppery taste to the foliage and has strong anti-fungal and antibacterial properties. It compares favourably to pharmaceutically compounded antifungal medicine, and can be used to treat Candida albicans, which causes infections such as thrush. Horopito has also been effective against other fungal organisms, such as Trichophyton, which causes ringworm, athlete’s foot and fungal nails. The pain killing action, analgesic, of the leaves is attributed to one of their 29 essential oils, called eugenol.
Marlborough-based company Kolorex use horopito as their hero herb ingredient, and grow it to use in a range of efficacious antifungal products.
Garden to pantry
Grow horopito in your garden and the birds will love you when it bears its dark red to black berries in autumn. Meanwhile, you can be adventurous with the leaves in your kitchen. The peppery action of our native bush spice has found its way into the condiment range of chefs – what better way to “let food be your medicine, and medicine be your food” in the words of the great Hippocrates. You can dry them at home and grind them to use as a substitute for ground black pepper. It will take meat-rub seasoning to another level, and refreshingly uplift your favourite hummus For a ready-to-use horopito supply, visit Forest Gourmet’s website.
Horopito is a botanical example of the land’s way of caring for us and providing a resource for health in life. Let it be reciprocal where we acknowledge how te whenua (the land) and ourselves are interconnected – if we care for the land, the land provides in return.
Sara Mertens is a registered medical herbalist living in Rangiora (symphonyofherbs.nz).
00Staff Writerhttps://organicnz.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/OrganicNZ-2024-Masthead.pngStaff Writer2022-04-26 10:30:572022-04-26 10:30:57Horopito: how to use our hottest native herb
Diverging focuses on soil health and chemical inputs is illuminating a gap between regenerative and organic practices. But adherents say it’s an opportunity to come together and find a way forward, says Desmond Finlay.
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In 2018, during the first Quorum Sense field day in Canterbury, two groups of farmers found themselves in a stand-off. In one group were the regenerative agriculture farmers, who were saying that the best way to improve soil health was to eliminate tilling, which allowed for the use of synthetic weedkillers, and in the other group were organic farmers – those who believed that the most important practice was to eliminate the use of herbicides, which meant there had to be some tilling.
Sustainable agronomist Charles Merfield (Merf) was there, and he recalls the disagreement becoming quite heated. “There was a reasonable bit of antagonism at the time,” he says. “They were all farmers and they all bloody knew each other. But there was this interesting dichotomy, with both groups essentially claiming the moral high ground.”
It might rarely boil over into a public dispute, but Merf says the conflicting emphasis on no-till and no-spray techniques captures a fundamental difference between the regenerative agriculture and organic movements in New Zealand.
With organics representing a commercial sector and the regen a broad approach to farming, it is difficult to compare the two as like for like. However, both movements are arguably two boughs of the same sprawling tree. They share common values, followers, and the ultimate goal of creating healthier food-production systems.
Soil is at the centre of it all
Where they differ is in their rules. Certified organic farmers and growers are governed by technical requirements that generally prohibit the use of synthetic fertilisers and pesticides, antibiotics and genetic modification. Producers must meet those requirements for their organic certification, which provides a gateway to a lucrative market where consumers pay a premium for products they know have been grown without chemical inputs.
Regen, on the other hand, is a fluid, farmer-led grassroots movement away from industrial agriculture to a more holistic way of working with the land. Rather than being beholden to commercial requirements, regen is based around a dozen core principles that together are proposed solutions to climate change, biodiversity loss, farmer hardship and food-system dysfunction. There are also few barriers to entry, allowing anyone to adopt regen if they have the will and passion.
Merf calls regen a “mindset”, and soil is at the centre of it all. “From an ecological, scientific point of view, if you’re going to fix agriculture and biodiversity, the first thing you do is you fix soil health, because a lot of other stuff flows on from it,” he says.
Being a relatively new movement in New Zealand, the research around regen is still limited. But Merfield says the benefits to soil health from reduced tilling, minimising compaction and planting cover crops are now well established through both anecdotal evidence and preliminary studies.
“All the stuff they’re doing is well known within the soil science and ecological sciences as ways of improving soil biology and soil health. And the science is pretty clear – reducing the intensity of tillage will improve soil health.”
However, that also means that on certain farms of a bigger scale, reduced tillage needs to be replaced with a viable alternative. For some regen farmers, that means continuing to use herbicides like glyphosate, which regenerative principles do not explicitly prohibit. Which is why the disagreement at the Quorum Sense field day became so intense.
“Organic consumers and farmers are really concerned about pesticide and herbicide,” says Merf. “I’m really concerned too; we definitely need to reduce and eliminate them as soon as we can find effective alternatives. But I’m also really concerned about soil damage and soil loss as well. And I’ve been on organic farms where the soil is completely knackered due to over-cultivation, and nobody’s pinged them.”
John McCafferty grows intensively in his half-acre no-till organic market garden, which borders the Pleasant River in East Otago. Photo by Sky Eye.
The best of both worlds
While Merf feels the organics sector’s standards around soil health are no longer as strong as they should be, there are plenty of organic farmers and growers that have voluntarily adopted a dual approach in order to fill the gaps.
John McCafferty runs Pleasant River Produce in east Otago, where he grows salad greens for the Dunedin market. Being certified organic, he doesn’t use any synthetic sprays or fertilisers. Yet he also doesn’t till, having found an alternative through widespread application of compost and mulch.
“I’d been tilling for years. That’s what most of us have learnt. It was really ingrained. But I had this huge weed problem and I could never really get over the hump. I’d heard about the no-till, no-dig approach, but it wasn’t until a friend came to help out and encouraged me that I began trying it in the garden, with immediate results in terms of weed pressure.” Sourcing such a large amount of mulch and compost (without herbicide residue, in John’s case) is a challenge in itself, which is why it may not be a viable tilling or spray alternative for growers on larger acreages. However, the important thing is for all growers and farmers to discuss their practices so they can find solutions for different problems, he says.
Rotorua organic market gardener Jenny Lux feels the same way. She says regen and organics act as a gateway to the other, with some organic growers becoming interested in practices that minimise soil disruption and maximise carbon capture, while some regen growers are making the leap to certification to capitalise on the commercial benefits.
“It’s not just about marketing though,” says Jenny, who’s also a director of organic certifier BioGro and a Soil & Health Association National Council member. “Organics has a long history and has a lot of research backing it as well.”
Jenny agrees that some organic methods, such as excessive tillage or fertiliser use, wouldn’t be considered good practice on a regenerative farm, where fertility is improved through the likes of folding cover crops back into the soil. But on the organics side of the fence, the use of biocides like glyphosate is out of the question. At her market garden, she doesn’t till or use any synthetic sprays.
“The regenerative crowd is still using it (glyphosate) as a tool. They say, ‘We’re going to minimise our use of it, and maybe eventually get rid of it’, but I don’t see a path out of that. That’s what concerns me. I don’t like the use of toxic chemicals in any place in our growing systems. So I don’t see how that could be regenerative in the final tally.”
Common ground
Despite these differences, Jenny says describing organics and regen as two separate “camps” is not productive. They are part of the same movement, and she stresses that any diverging practices aren’t a bad thing, but a fantastic opportunity for farmers and growers to come together and find a way forward. “The organic sector should actually be taking a leaf from the regen movement and going, ‘Well, are we improving our soil health every year? Are we actually measuring it in the organic standards?’”
With the effects of climate change bearing down on all of us, she applauds the regenerative movement for inspiring farmers to become more sustainable, and sees organics playing the same part. “It’s a conversation between organics and regen – it’s not a competition. Both parts of the movement can come together to learn from each other.”
00Staff Writerhttps://organicnz.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/OrganicNZ-2024-Masthead.pngStaff Writer2022-04-26 09:49:502022-04-26 09:49:50Where do regen and organics stand on soil?
Rebecca Reider visits a family-owned apple cider vinegar company on the Kāpiti Coast that has been perfecting the art of fermenting for more than 25 years. The secret? Letting nature do her thing.
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00Staff Writerhttps://organicnz.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/OrganicNZ-2024-Masthead.pngStaff Writer2022-04-26 09:40:052022-04-26 09:40:05Cider house rules with CoralTree Organics
Donna Evans is the store manager at organic grocer Commonsense’s newest store in Milford. We talked shop with her.
Photography: Abhi Chinniah
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00Staff Writerhttps://organicnz.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/OrganicNZ-2024-Masthead.pngStaff Writer2022-04-19 11:37:052022-04-19 11:37:05Meet the locals: Donna Evans of Commonsense Organics
Organic NZ asked four organic growers to share their stories of how they navigated ethical considerations regarding the Pfizer vaccine.
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Renewed focus on nutrition and health
Everyone we spoke to is hopeful we emerge from the pandemic with a new commitment to local healthy food production. Dom Ferretti, of Ferretti Growers near Nelson, says their vegetable box deliveries are doing very well: “More people are taking the plunge into organics who may have been on the fence before. We are struggling to meet demand.” This growth in sales is also true for Untamed Earth Organic Farm in Christchurch. Co-owner Penny Platt told Organic NZ the pandemic has been a mixed bag: “In some ways it’s been challenging. Managing staff interactions to stop the spread, and with the markets closed, we’ve had to change how we work. But we’ve also benefitted. Vege box sales have gone up. People are thinking more about local food and eating at home. We’ve built our profile and connected with more people who are coming to us instead of buying from supermarkets.”
When it comes to staying healthy, a focus on good nutrition and active stress management have been key planks for Dom Ferretti. “We’ve been mindful of the extra stress and hard work as a result of the pandemic. Our focus has been on eating well and ensuring we get enough zinc and vitamins C and D. These are efforts to keep all viruses at bay. Relaxation and stress release through yoga have also been important for us, and we’ve been doing a lot of cold-water therapy, which has some great benefits.”
“In general, there is not enough focus on empowerment of the people to take their health into their own hands. It’s a tragedy to have to rely solely on outside help when there is so much opportunity for self-sustainability, and endless available resources out there to get people started!”
KELLY DIGGLE, ĀRĀMA GARDENS & NURSERY
What about the vaccine?
The importance of people having the right to make their own personal decision about vaccination was common to everyone we spoke to. Penny Platt’s view is that GE technology has been used recklessly, but that in the pandemic we have to look at a wider set of concerns. “Not being an expert on the science, I defer to people who are. I am trusting of the public health response, and that it’s been conducted with peoples’ needs in mind. I don’t feel concerned about that.
“Regarding our organic philosophy – the core of it is about health and well-being and fairness. The thing I am prioritising is the vulnerable and their health and wellbeing. The vaccination programme helps us to support other people as well as ourselves.”
Penny is still opposed to the use of GE in foods. “I am opposed to GE because it enables patenting tech that disempowers local food growers and indigenous communities, and takes ownership away from the people and gives it to corporates. What gets lost when we replace heirloom seeds and the natural varieties through GE? This is not the same for the vaccine. The use of GE tech has often been reckless, and unjustified, which is the problem. It doesn’t mean there aren’t justified ways of using it.”
“The GE technology isn’t GMO or anything like that. Yes, it uses GE technology and that is hard to square with organics but this is such a unique and hopefully very rare situation.”
TIM GOW, MANGAPIRI DOWNS
Dom Ferretti draws a parallel with the chemical revolution in agriculture and the mistakes that were made around chemical safety. “Our gut feeling was that this was not right. We have spent so many years being very aware and careful of what we put into our bodies. Then when we looked into it, we found plenty of evidence which caused concern. Lots of evidence suggested more caution needed to be taken with the vaccine than people were taking. My observation has been that these industrial products are always presented as safe and effective at the outset. Then only later do we realise the harmful effects. This is true of the chemical revolution in farming. My grandfather moved out from Italy and became a market gardener in the early 20th century. He and his family got swept up in the chemical revolution. In the end, my father told me that organics is the only way for the long term. We ended up with a lot of cancer in the family from chemical exposure.”
Kelly Diggle of Ārāma Gardens & Nursery near Kaitaia, says a GE vaccine doesn’t sit well with her growing philosophy. “There’s a deep connection to the food sustaining me because I have participated in the growth and health of that plant before it essentially transforms into the very cells living in this body! The likes of a GE vaccine – which does not require the time, effort and commitment that is needed for a rich interpersonal relationship to develop – in its very nature goes against the flow of life.”
Southland organic farmer Tim Gow says he wrestled with the decision for a long time. “We haven’t vaccinated our sheep stock in nearly 20 years and haven’t needed to. But then I looked at how this is a bit of a unique situation, being a global pandemic with essentially a completely new virus. So that was the deciding factor for me. The GE technology isn’t GMO or anything like that. Yes, it uses GE technology and that is hard to square with organics but this is such a unique and hopefully very rare situation. I’m also in that category of people more at risk due to my age.”
Getting back to a new normal
Regardless of opinions, everyone is hopeful we can build better connections with food as we emerge from the pandemic. Kelly Diggle wants to see more encouragement towards things like organic gardening, food security, community building and food sustainability. “In general, there is not enough focus on empowerment of the people to take their health into their own hands. It’s a tragedy to have to rely solely on outside help when there is so much opportunity for self-sustainability, and endless available resources out there to get people started!”
Dom Ferretti agrees: “We hope that people take more charge of their immune system; and that they utilise nutrition and other health practices to protect themselves. We also hope that mandates are dropped and never used again, and that we accept that this virus needs to run its course as nature intends.”
Penny Platt hopes that the high vaccination rate will enable us to move through this pandemic safely. “The location of our farm means we work around vulnerable people – a residential care facility for people with disabilities. So we take extra care. But I am also looking forward to returning to more of a balanced life. I hope we can have less heated conversations once the direct effects are not so acute.”
https://organicnz.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/10/pexels-photo-113335.jpeg7501125Staff Writerhttps://organicnz.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/OrganicNZ-2024-Masthead.pngStaff Writer2022-04-19 10:56:402025-04-21 15:20:36To GE or not to GE: Organic growers consider Pfizer
Edible activism meets ethical hedonism in Flip Grater’s new cookbook, which is packed with favourite recipes from Grater Goods, her vegan deli in Christchurch.
Carrot lox
Makes one large jar
500 g carrots, peeled into long strips 4 teaspoons fine salt
Marinade:
1 sheet nori 1½ teaspoons flaky sea salt ¼ cup neutral oil (such as sunflower or rice bran oil) 1¼ teaspoons raw sugar 1 teaspoon liquid smoke 4½ teaspoons tapioca flour Pinch of white pepper ½ teaspoon dried dill
Slice carrots as thinly as possible (a speed peeler works well). Sprinkle with salt, stir through, let sit for 30 minutes. Rinse and drain.
Blitz your nori sheet in a blender to make a powder (or cut into super small bits). Combine all marinade ingredients and pour over the carrots.
You can simply store this in your fridge and enjoy over a week or, if you want to get fancy, you can gently sous vide* the carrots in the marinade. This just gets them super soft and silky and makes them fall apart in a manner closer to smoked salmon.
* How to sous vide:
Place marinated carrots and marinade into vacuum bags and seal. Cook sous vide at 85°C for 2½ hours. For a home hack, simply place into a sealable bag, put into a pot of cold water, bring to a simmer and turn off. They won’t be silky but they will soften slightly.
Escarfaux
Serves 4
Our daughter Anaïs calls this “mescargots” as in “my escargot”! It’s a great way to use wild mushrooms in autumn but can be made any time of the year with Paris button mushrooms. Serve with bread to mop up all those garlicky juices.
8 medium button mushrooms ⅓ cup vegan butter (or dairy-free spread) 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 small shallot, finely sliced 6–8 cloves garlic, finely chopped ½ cup Chardonnay ½ cup vegetable stock 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar 1 sheet nori, cut into small pieces Sea salt to taste Pinch of black pepper Bunch of chopped parsley Crusty bread to serve
Cut mushrooms in half, then each half into 2 or 3.
Gently heat butter and oil in a pan, add shallot and garlic and warm for 30 seconds until fragrant. Add chopped mushrooms, wine, stock, vinegar, nori pieces, salt and pepper. Simmer for approximately 20 minutes, until the liquid has reduced substantially and thickened.
Taste and season if needed. Toss plenty of parsley through the mushroom mixture and serve immediately with crusty bread.
Beet bourguignon
Serves 4
3 tablespoons olive oil 1 onion, finely chopped 1 carrot, chopped into 1 cm pieces 400 g beetroot, cut into 3 cm batons 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped 2 sprigs thyme, leaves picked ½ teaspoon onion powder ⅓ cup pinot noir 1 tablespoon tamari or light soy sauce 2 cups vegetable stock Salt and pepper to taste 200 g mushrooms, halved 1 tablespoon cornstarch
1. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a heavy-based saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes or until softened. Add carrot and beetroot pieces and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until beetroot is slightly tender.
2. Add garlic, thyme sprigs and onion powder and cook until aromatic. Increase heat to high and add the wine, bring mixture to the boil and cook for 2 minutes or until reduced slightly.
3. Add soy sauce and stock and return to a simmer. Reduce heat to low, cover with a lid and cook, removing lid halfway, for 40 minutes or until beetroot is cooked through and tender. Season to taste.
4. Meanwhile, drizzle remaining tablespoon of oil into a frying pan. Add the mushrooms, cut side down, and place over high heat. Cook, without touching, for 4 minutes or until golden on one side. Remove from heat and stand until required.
5. When the stew is cooked, combine cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of the stew liquid to dissolve. Add mixture to stew along with the cooked mushrooms. Stir to combine and cook for a further 2 minutes or until thickened and glossy.
6. Serve with crusty bread, a sprinkling of fresh thyme and plenty of fresh black pepper.
Sweet, garlicky and buttery, with a hint of spicy turmeric, these roasted carrots with turmeric honey fusion make a quick and delicious side dish.
Try the recipe on us with a jar of TranzAlpine Honey’s Organic Honey & Turmeric, free with every new magazine print subscription. Special offer details below!
Ingredients Serves 2
1 tablespoon TranzAlpine Organic Honey & Turmeric 1 garlic clove, grated 1 tablespoon butter, melted ¼ teaspoon salt Black pepper 250 g baby carrots cut lengthwise Toasted sesame seeds to serve
Method
Preheat oven to 180°C.
In a small bowl, mix turmeric honey fusion, grated garlic and melted butter using a small whisk. Season with salt and pepper.
Toss carrots with the aromatic butter. Arrange on an oven tray in a single layer. Roast for about 30 minutes, turning every 10 minutes until tender.
Transfer to a platter, drizzle with remaining aromatic butter and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
00Staff Writerhttps://organicnz.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/09/OrganicNZ-2024-Masthead.pngStaff Writer2022-02-21 05:29:002022-02-21 05:29:00Honey Turmeric Carrots with TranzAlpine Honey
Electronic waste is the world’s fastest growing waste stream, and in Aotearoa most of it ends up in landfill where it can leach toxins into soil and waterways. The good news is that we are taking steps to reduce our e-waste footprint. Bonnie Flaws investigates.
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Mobile phones, old computers, toasters and jugs, whiteware, batteries, televisions, gadgets, even children’s toys. We’ve probably all gone through numerous editions of each of these products in our lifetime. I run a little inventory and establish that I am on my fifth mobile phone, my fifth computer, and probably my fourth television. I’m only on my second GHD though after 20 years of hair straightening – pretty good, I reckon. My 30-year-old dishwasher is working but it’s falling apart, and it won’t be long before I’ll be replacing it.
Electronic waste is increasing globally, and here in New Zealand it’s estimated we produce about 80,000 tonnes a year, of which only 2000 tonnes is recycled. “It’s a significant problem,” says AUT senior lecturer in the School of Future Environments, Jeff Seadon. And it’s everyone’s problem – it’s estimated each person produces about 21 kg every year, he tells me.
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What is it and why is there so much of it?
E-waste comprises “anything with a plug or battery” that has reached the end of its life, Jeff explains. As the world has become increasingly digitised, the amount of e-waste continues to pile up and it has become the fastest growing waste stream in the world. Another culprit is ‘planned obsolescence’, a business strategy with an ethics problem.
Manufacturers want repeat customers and so longevity is not a priority. It costs manufacturers money to repair products, and it’s often cheaper to simply replace broken items. It’s also profitable to dictate who can do repairs, sometimes under threat of nullifying the warranty if something is repaired by an unauthorised party.
“There is now a backlash occurring, and as a result, manufacturers are having to change their products so that there is a ‘right to repair’,” Jeff says. The ‘right to repair’ concept is becoming more widespread. Consumer NZ says it’s going mainstream, with companies like Apple making supportive noises, and legislators in Australia and the United Kingdom forcing manufacturers to repair cars through independent garages and supply spare parts for gadgets. Minister for the Environment David Parker is a fan and Kiwi businesses could soon be legally bound to ensure old devices can be repaired too.
Jeff says this policy may force a rethink. “Producers are thinking, ‘If we have to repair it, that will cost us a fortune and that will come back on us. So, therefore we need to make things that are more useable’.”
Environmental and health impacts
E-waste contains a variety of minerals and elements, including precious metals and heavy metals. Many of these are contaminants, says University of Canterbury professor of environmental chemistry Brett Robinson. Elements like lead, cadmium, mercury and copper bind very strongly to soils where they stay forever or are taken up by plants.
But Brett says there are many other chemical elements that are not well understood – such as gallium and indium, which are used in the manufacture of flat panel displays. It is not known just how mobile they are in soil or how harmful they can be. At some level, all of these contaminants are toxic to microbes and plants, he says.
Some types of flame retardants that are used in plastics on electronic devices are also extremely toxic and very mobile, so can leach into groundwater. Air pollution can also be a problem. “If e-waste is burned, you get chemicals called dioxins forming – the same chemical that caused environmental damage in Vietnam with Agent Orange.”
Brett says most of what is collected at recycling centres usually goes overseas to places like Japan, Singapore and South Korea, where it can be recycled more cost-effectively.
Sadly, in New Zealand most e-waste ends up in landfill. There are upsides and downsides to this, he adds. On the downside, resources are being lost – there is far more gold, silver and palladium in landfills than there is in virgin mines, such as the one in Waihi. On the upside, since the 1990s, landfills have been required to be sealed, so the e-waste doesn’t leach out, although some of it ends up as leachate which is collected and reprocessed by the operator, he says.
Farm dumps
The biggest problem in Aoteroa is the amount of e-waste illegally disposed of on farm dumps, of which there are estimated to be about 30,000 around the country, Jeff tells me. “It’s very hard to regulate because if you have a little valley in the back of beyond, who is going to be there to check it?”
Unlike landfills, these dumps do leach. As water passes through valleys, decaying metals pass into the water system and into vegetable and animal life, where it accumulates. Some elements can also get into groundwater, he says. Their accumulation in humans and animals via water and food can lead to side effects including kidney and bone disease, central nervous system damage and elevated blood pressure.
Product stewardship for e-waste will become mandatory
Spark, Vodafone and 2degrees have a recycling programme for phones called Re:Mobile, and there are collection points for e-waste recycling in many places that you can find out about through your local council or at ewaste.org.nz. However, options for responsible disposal of electronic waste are still limited. But this is set to change.
The Ministry for the Environment is currently in the process of setting up a product stewardship scheme under the Waste Minimisation Act, and e-waste is one of the priority waste streams. Once in place, it will oblige producers to recover e-waste at the end of life and recycle it. There is no date set yet for its implementation.
What we do know is that it will be a user-pays system. “When you go and purchase a piece of electronic equipment covered under the scheme, you’ll pay an extra amount that will pay for its recovery at the end. The scheme will build up money to capture goods at the end and it should be self-supporting,” Brett says.
Not-for-profit TechCollect NZ was established by a group of global technology companies to support the development of a regulated product stewardship scheme in New Zealand, and is working with the government on delivering the scheme at present.
Auckland based company Computer Recycling will likely to be collecting much of this waste once the scheme is up and running. Director Patrick Moynahan has imported a high-tech piece of kit called Blue Box. One of only eight in the world, this machine will increase the amount of e-waste the country currently recycles to 5000 tonnes per year, he says. “That will go quite a long way to recycle the ‘hard to recycle’ material – things like flat screens, small electronics, laptops. We’ll be able to handle the vast majority of what New Zealand produces,” he says. Hard-to-recycle material is anything that can’t be disassembled by hand, he explains.
The $3 million machine, a 40 foot container-sized shredding unit, operates in a negative vacuum environment, meaning nasties like mercury and cadmium will be contained and the recycling process won’t contribute to the contamination of the workers or the land. The metals will be exported as commodities, where they will be reused in manufactured goods. It also separates out the precious metals into pure commodity streams that can be sold back to refineries.
Computer Recycling collects e-waste from all over the country at one-day-events via business networks and a fleet of trucks and vans that collect waste. “We also work with general waste companies to encourage the collection of e-waste at the point of landfill,” Patrick says. The company will be working with TechCollect and companies implementing the mandatory product stewardship programmes when the time comes.
But Patrick doesn’t think it will be realistically operational for two to three years. Once the regulation is in place, the e-waste recycling sector will expand significantly especially with the help of Blue Box, he says.
“We are hoping to import a few more machines [for other e-waste streams] in a couple of years. If stewardship is introduced and there is a conscious effort to educate the public then there is no reason why we can’t hit 50–60 per cent recycling of waste. Right now, we’re are at about 2 per cent,” Patrick says.
Horopito: how to use our hottest native herb
/in Health and Food, Magazine ArticlesHerbalist Sara Mertens celebrates our hottest native herb and peppers us with ideas on how to use it in the kitchen and medicine cabinet.
If you are unfamiliar with the native flora of Aotearoa’s bush and go walking with somebody who wants to treat you to a “taste of the bush” sensation, they will undoubtedly invite you to nibble on a leaf from an attractively coloured shrub. A nibble is all it takes! It will be an unforgettable moment as your taste buds encounter a peppery punch not unlike chilli spice.
Horopito, our native pepper tree boasts an ancient endemic New Zealand genus, Pseudowintera, and a primitive flower structure originating from the Winteraceae plant family. Unsurprisingly, introduced animals, such as wild deer find the hot-tasting leaves unpalatable, a quality that has nurtured its longevity in our forests. Similarly, it is fungi resistant and insects are not attracted to it.
There are four endemic horopito species. Pseudowintera colorata (pictured above) is a shrub variety that grows up to 3.5m tall and has distinctly identifiable foliage of red splotches on the topside of the pale green leaf, with a blue-grey underside. P. axillaris is not as peppery, has no colourful markings and grows 7m tall. P. colorata and P. axillaris are often found growing in the same regions but in different parts of the bush due to P. colorata thriving in areas of adequate light to enhance its highly coloured leaves, and P. axillaris preferring cold, damp conditions. The other two horopito species are harder to find. P inseparata is critically endangered and only grows in Northland and P. traversii is found on the West Coast of the South Island and near Nelson.
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Apothecary
P. colorata is known for its medicinal uses, and forms an important part of rongoā Māori. The fresh leaves can be chewed or simmered in water to make a medicinal decoction drink for tooth and stomach aches. Circulatory and respiratory conditions, such as coughs, colds and asthma, were once managed with this warming herb. It can also be used topically to treat skin diseases. The leaves and tender branches were steeped in water and used in a lotion for ringworm, and the bruised foliage was applied as a warming poultice to wounds and joint injuries.
In the early 1980s, University of Canterbury research isolated the active constituent polygodial, which gives the distinct peppery taste to the foliage and has strong anti-fungal and antibacterial properties. It compares favourably to pharmaceutically compounded antifungal medicine, and can be used to treat Candida albicans, which causes infections such as thrush. Horopito has also been effective against other fungal organisms, such as Trichophyton, which causes ringworm, athlete’s foot and fungal nails. The pain killing action, analgesic, of the leaves is attributed to one of their 29 essential oils, called eugenol.
Marlborough-based company Kolorex use horopito as their hero herb ingredient, and grow it to use in a range of efficacious antifungal products.
Garden to pantry
Grow horopito in your garden and the birds will love you when it bears its dark red to black berries in autumn. Meanwhile, you can be adventurous with the leaves in your kitchen. The peppery action of our native bush spice has found its way into the condiment range of chefs – what better way to “let food be your medicine, and medicine be your food” in the words of the great Hippocrates. You can dry them at home and grind them to use as a substitute for ground black pepper. It will take meat-rub seasoning to another level, and refreshingly uplift your favourite hummus For a ready-to-use horopito supply, visit Forest Gourmet’s website.
Horopito is a botanical example of the land’s way of caring for us and providing a resource for health in life. Let it be reciprocal where we acknowledge how te whenua (the land) and ourselves are interconnected – if we care for the land, the land provides in return.
Sara Mertens is a registered medical herbalist living in Rangiora (symphonyofherbs.nz).
Where do regen and organics stand on soil?
/in Farming and Horticulture, Magazine ArticlesDiverging focuses on soil health and chemical inputs is illuminating a gap between regenerative and organic practices. But adherents say it’s an opportunity to come together and find a way forward, says Desmond Finlay.
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In 2018, during the first Quorum Sense field day in Canterbury, two groups of farmers found themselves in a stand-off. In one group were the regenerative agriculture farmers, who were saying that the best
way to improve soil health was to eliminate tilling, which allowed for the use of synthetic weedkillers, and in the other group were organic farmers – those who believed that the most important practice was to eliminate the use of herbicides, which meant there had to be some tilling.
Sustainable agronomist Charles Merfield (Merf) was there, and he recalls the disagreement becoming quite heated. “There was a reasonable bit of antagonism at the time,” he says. “They were all farmers and they all bloody knew each other. But there was this interesting dichotomy, with both groups essentially claiming the moral high ground.”
It might rarely boil over into a public dispute, but Merf says the conflicting emphasis on no-till and no-spray techniques captures a fundamental difference between the regenerative agriculture and organic movements in New Zealand.
With organics representing a commercial sector and the regen a broad approach to farming, it is difficult to compare the two as like for like. However, both movements are arguably two boughs of the same sprawling tree. They share common values, followers, and the ultimate goal of creating healthier food-production systems.
Soil is at the centre of it all
Where they differ is in their rules. Certified organic farmers and growers are governed by technical requirements that generally prohibit the use of synthetic fertilisers and pesticides, antibiotics and genetic modification. Producers must meet those requirements for their organic certification, which provides a gateway to a lucrative market where consumers pay a premium for products they know have been grown without chemical inputs.
Regen, on the other hand, is a fluid, farmer-led grassroots movement away from industrial agriculture
to a more holistic way of working with the land. Rather than being beholden to commercial requirements, regen is based around a dozen core principles that together are proposed solutions to climate change, biodiversity loss, farmer hardship and food-system dysfunction. There are also few barriers to entry, allowing anyone to adopt regen if they have the will and passion.
Merf calls regen a “mindset”, and soil is at the centre of it all. “From an ecological, scientific point of view, if you’re going to fix agriculture and biodiversity, the first thing you do is you fix soil health, because a lot of other stuff flows on from it,” he says.
Being a relatively new movement in New Zealand, the research around regen is still limited. But Merfield says the benefits to soil health from reduced tilling, minimising compaction and planting cover crops are now well established through both anecdotal evidence and preliminary studies.
“All the stuff they’re doing is well known within the soil science and ecological sciences as ways of improving soil biology and soil health. And the science is pretty clear – reducing the intensity of tillage will improve soil health.”
However, that also means that on certain farms of a bigger scale, reduced tillage needs to be replaced with a viable alternative. For some regen farmers, that means continuing to use herbicides like glyphosate, which regenerative principles do not explicitly prohibit. Which is why the disagreement at the Quorum Sense field day became so intense.
“Organic consumers and farmers are really concerned about pesticide and herbicide,” says Merf. “I’m really concerned too; we definitely need to reduce and eliminate them as soon as we can find effective alternatives. But I’m also really concerned about soil damage and soil loss as well. And I’ve been on organic farms where the soil is completely knackered due to over-cultivation, and nobody’s pinged them.”
Photo by Sky Eye.
The best of both worlds
While Merf feels the organics sector’s standards around soil health are no longer as strong as they should be, there are plenty of organic farmers and growers that have voluntarily adopted a dual approach in order to fill the gaps.
John McCafferty runs Pleasant River Produce in east Otago, where he grows salad greens for the Dunedin market. Being certified organic, he doesn’t use any synthetic sprays or fertilisers. Yet he also doesn’t till, having found an alternative through widespread application of compost and mulch.
“I’d been tilling for years. That’s what most of us have learnt. It was really ingrained. But I had this huge weed problem and I could never really get over the hump. I’d heard about the no-till, no-dig approach, but it wasn’t until a friend came to help out and encouraged me that I began trying it in the garden, with immediate results in terms of weed pressure.” Sourcing such a large amount of mulch and compost (without herbicide residue, in John’s case) is a challenge in itself, which is why it may not be a viable tilling or spray alternative for growers on larger acreages. However, the important thing is for all growers and farmers to discuss their practices so they can find solutions for different problems, he says.
Rotorua organic market gardener Jenny Lux feels the same way. She says regen and organics act as a gateway to the other, with some organic growers becoming interested in practices that minimise soil disruption and maximise carbon capture, while some regen growers are making the leap to certification to capitalise on the commercial benefits.
“It’s not just about marketing though,” says Jenny, who’s also a director of organic certifier BioGro and a Soil & Health Association National Council member. “Organics has a long history and has a lot of research backing it as well.”
Jenny agrees that some organic methods, such as excessive tillage or fertiliser use, wouldn’t be considered good practice on a regenerative farm, where fertility is improved through the likes of folding cover crops back into the soil. But on the organics side of the fence, the use of biocides like glyphosate is out of the question. At her market garden, she doesn’t till or use any synthetic sprays.
“The regenerative crowd is still using it (glyphosate) as a tool. They say, ‘We’re going to minimise our use of it, and maybe eventually get rid of it’, but I don’t see a path out of that. That’s what concerns me. I don’t like the use of toxic chemicals in any place in our growing systems. So I don’t see how that could be regenerative in the final tally.”
Common ground
Despite these differences, Jenny says describing organics and regen as two separate “camps” is not productive. They are part of the same movement, and she stresses that any diverging practices aren’t a bad thing, but a fantastic opportunity for farmers and growers to come together and find a way forward. “The organic sector should actually be taking a leaf from the regen movement and going, ‘Well, are we improving our soil health every year? Are we actually measuring it in the organic standards?’”
With the effects of climate change bearing down on all of us, she applauds the regenerative movement for inspiring farmers to become more sustainable, and sees organics playing the same part. “It’s a conversation between organics and regen – it’s not a competition. Both parts of the movement can come together to learn from each other.”
Cider house rules with CoralTree Organics
/in Farming and Horticulture, Magazine ArticlesRebecca Reider visits a family-owned apple cider vinegar company on the Kāpiti Coast that has been perfecting the art of fermenting for more than 25 years. The secret? Letting nature do her thing.
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Meet the locals: Donna Evans of Commonsense Organics
/in Health and Food, Magazine ArticlesDonna Evans is the store manager at organic grocer Commonsense’s newest store in Milford. We talked shop with her.
Photography: Abhi Chinniah
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To GE or not to GE: Organic growers consider Pfizer
/in Features, Magazine ArticlesOrganic NZ asked four organic growers to share their stories of how they navigated ethical considerations regarding the Pfizer vaccine.
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Renewed focus on nutrition and health
Everyone we spoke to is hopeful we emerge from the pandemic with a new commitment to local healthy food production. Dom Ferretti, of Ferretti Growers near Nelson, says their vegetable box deliveries are doing very well: “More people are taking the plunge into organics who may have been on the fence before. We are struggling to meet demand.” This growth in sales is also true for Untamed Earth Organic Farm in Christchurch. Co-owner Penny Platt told Organic NZ the pandemic has been a mixed bag:
“In some ways it’s been challenging. Managing staff interactions to stop the spread, and with the markets closed, we’ve had to change how we work. But we’ve also benefitted. Vege box sales have gone up. People are thinking more about local food and eating at home. We’ve built our profile and connected with more people who are coming to us instead of buying from supermarkets.”
When it comes to staying healthy, a focus on good nutrition and active stress management have been key planks for Dom Ferretti. “We’ve been mindful of the extra stress and hard work as a result of the pandemic. Our focus has been on eating well and ensuring we get enough zinc and vitamins C and D. These are efforts to keep all viruses at bay. Relaxation and stress release through yoga have also been important for us, and we’ve been doing a lot of cold-water therapy, which has some great benefits.”
What about the vaccine?
The importance of people having the right to make their own personal decision about vaccination was common to everyone we spoke to. Penny Platt’s view is that GE technology has been used recklessly, but that in the pandemic we have to look at a wider set of concerns. “Not being an expert on the science, I defer to people who are. I am trusting of the public health response, and that it’s been conducted with peoples’ needs in mind. I don’t feel concerned about that.
“Regarding our organic philosophy – the core of it is about health and well-being and fairness. The thing I
am prioritising is the vulnerable and their health and wellbeing. The vaccination programme helps us to support other people as well as ourselves.”
Penny is still opposed to the use of GE in foods. “I am opposed to GE because it enables patenting tech that disempowers local food growers and indigenous communities, and takes ownership away from the people and gives it to corporates. What gets lost when we replace heirloom seeds and the natural varieties through GE? This is not the same for the vaccine. The use of GE tech has often been reckless, and unjustified, which is the problem. It doesn’t mean there aren’t justified ways of using it.”
Dom Ferretti draws a parallel with the chemical revolution in agriculture and the mistakes that were made around chemical safety. “Our gut feeling was that this was not right. We have spent so many years being very aware and careful of what we put into our bodies. Then when we looked into it, we found plenty of evidence which caused concern. Lots of evidence suggested more caution needed to be taken with the vaccine than people were taking. My observation has been that these industrial products are always presented as safe and effective at the outset. Then only later do we realise the harmful effects. This is true of the chemical revolution in farming. My grandfather moved out from Italy and became a market gardener in the early 20th century. He and his family got swept up in the chemical revolution. In the end, my father told me that organics is the only way for the long term. We ended up with a lot of cancer in the family from chemical exposure.”
Kelly Diggle of Ārāma Gardens & Nursery near Kaitaia, says a GE vaccine doesn’t sit well with her growing philosophy. “There’s a deep connection to the food sustaining me because I have participated in the growth and health of that plant before it essentially transforms into the very cells living in this body! The likes of a GE vaccine – which does not require the time, effort and commitment that is needed for a rich interpersonal relationship to develop – in its very nature goes against the flow of life.”
Southland organic farmer Tim Gow says he wrestled with the decision for a long time. “We haven’t vaccinated our sheep stock in nearly 20 years and haven’t needed to. But then I looked at how this is a bit of a unique situation, being a global pandemic with essentially a completely new virus. So that was the deciding factor for me. The GE technology isn’t GMO or anything like that. Yes, it uses GE technology and that is hard to square with organics but this is such a unique and hopefully very rare situation. I’m also in that category of people more at risk due to my age.”
Getting back to a new normal
Regardless of opinions, everyone is hopeful we can build better connections with food as we emerge from the pandemic. Kelly Diggle wants to see more encouragement towards things like organic gardening, food security, community building and food sustainability. “In general, there is not enough focus on empowerment of the people to take their health into their own hands. It’s a tragedy to have to rely solely on outside help when there is so much opportunity for self-sustainability, and endless available resources out there to get people started!”
Dom Ferretti agrees: “We hope that people take more charge of their immune system; and that they utilise nutrition and other health practices to protect themselves. We also hope that mandates are dropped and never used again, and that we accept that this virus needs to run its course as nature intends.”
Penny Platt hopes that the high vaccination rate will enable us to move through this pandemic safely. “The location of our farm means we work around vulnerable people – a residential care facility for people with disabilities. So we take extra care. But I am also looking forward to returning to more of a balanced life. I hope we can have less heated conversations once the direct effects are not so acute.”
Autumnal munching recipes from Flip Grater
/in Health and Food, Magazine ArticlesEdible activism meets ethical hedonism in Flip Grater’s new cookbook, which is packed with favourite recipes from Grater Goods, her vegan deli in Christchurch.
Carrot lox
Makes one large jar
500 g carrots, peeled into long strips
4 teaspoons fine salt
Marinade:
1 sheet nori
1½ teaspoons flaky sea salt
¼ cup neutral oil (such as sunflower or rice bran oil)
1¼ teaspoons raw sugar
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
4½ teaspoons tapioca flour
Pinch of white pepper
½ teaspoon dried dill
* How to sous vide:
Place marinated carrots and marinade into vacuum bags and seal. Cook sous vide at 85°C for 2½ hours. For a home hack, simply place into a sealable bag, put into a pot of cold water, bring to a simmer and turn off. They won’t be silky but they will soften slightly.
Escarfaux
Serves 4
Our daughter Anaïs calls this “mescargots” as in “my escargot”! It’s a great way to use wild mushrooms in autumn but can be made any time of the year with Paris button mushrooms. Serve with bread to mop up all those garlicky juices.
8 medium button mushrooms
⅓ cup vegan butter (or dairy-free spread)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small shallot, finely sliced
6–8 cloves garlic, finely chopped
½ cup Chardonnay
½ cup vegetable stock
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1 sheet nori, cut into small pieces
Sea salt to taste
Pinch of black pepper
Bunch of chopped parsley
Crusty bread to serve
20 minutes, until the liquid has reduced substantially and thickened.
Beet bourguignon
Serves 4
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, chopped into 1 cm pieces
400 g beetroot, cut into 3 cm batons
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 sprigs thyme, leaves picked
½ teaspoon onion powder
⅓ cup pinot noir
1 tablespoon tamari or light soy sauce
2 cups vegetable stock
Salt and pepper to taste
200 g mushrooms, halved
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a heavy-based saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes or until softened. Add carrot and beetroot pieces and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until beetroot is slightly tender.
2. Add garlic, thyme sprigs and onion powder and cook until aromatic. Increase heat to high and add the wine, bring mixture to the boil and cook for 2 minutes or until reduced slightly.
3. Add soy sauce and stock and return to a simmer. Reduce heat to low, cover with a lid and cook, removing lid halfway, for 40 minutes or until beetroot is cooked through and tender. Season to taste.
4. Meanwhile, drizzle remaining tablespoon of oil into a frying pan. Add the mushrooms, cut side down, and place over high heat. Cook, without touching, for 4 minutes or until golden on one side. Remove from heat and stand until required.
5. When the stew is cooked, combine cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of the stew liquid to dissolve. Add mixture to stew along with the cooked mushrooms. Stir to combine and cook for a further 2 minutes or until thickened and glossy.
6. Serve with crusty bread, a sprinkling of fresh thyme and plenty of fresh black pepper.
These recipes have been extracted from The Grater Good: Hearty, delicious recipes for plant-based living by Flip Grater (Koa Press, koapress.co.nz, $44.99).
Commonsense Organics gift packs
/in CompetitionsCompetition now closed. Thank you Commonsense Organics
Kōkako chocolate packs
/in CompetitionsCompetition now closed. Thank you Kōkako.
Honey Turmeric Carrots with TranzAlpine Honey
/in Health and Food, Magazine ArticlesSweet, garlicky and buttery, with a hint of spicy turmeric, these roasted carrots with turmeric honey fusion make a quick and delicious side dish.
Try the recipe on us with a jar of TranzAlpine Honey’s Organic Honey & Turmeric, free with every new magazine print subscription. Special offer details below!
Ingredients
Serves 2
1 tablespoon TranzAlpine Organic Honey & Turmeric
1 garlic clove, grated
1 tablespoon butter, melted
¼ teaspoon salt
Black pepper
250 g baby carrots cut lengthwise
Toasted sesame seeds to serve
Method
garlic and melted butter using a small whisk.
Season with salt and pepper.
an oven tray in a single layer. Roast for about 30
minutes, turning every 10 minutes until tender.
aromatic butter and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Investigating Aotearoa’s e-waste footprint
/in Building and Technology, Magazine ArticlesElectronic waste is the world’s fastest growing waste stream, and in Aotearoa most of it ends up in landfill where it can leach toxins into soil and waterways. The good news is that we are taking steps to reduce our e-waste footprint. Bonnie Flaws investigates.
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Mobile phones, old computers, toasters and jugs, whiteware, batteries, televisions, gadgets, even children’s toys. We’ve probably all gone through numerous editions of each of these products in our lifetime. I run a little inventory and establish that I am on my fifth mobile phone, my fifth computer, and probably my fourth television. I’m only on my second GHD though after 20 years of hair straightening – pretty good, I reckon. My 30-year-old dishwasher is working but it’s falling apart, and it won’t be long before I’ll be replacing it.
Electronic waste is increasing globally, and here in New Zealand it’s estimated we produce about 80,000 tonnes a year, of which only 2000 tonnes is recycled. “It’s a significant problem,” says AUT senior lecturer in the School of Future Environments, Jeff Seadon. And it’s everyone’s problem – it’s estimated each person produces about 21 kg every year, he tells me.
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What is it and why is there so much of it?
E-waste comprises “anything with a plug or battery” that has reached the end of its life, Jeff explains. As the world has become increasingly digitised, the amount of e-waste continues to pile up and it has become the fastest growing waste stream in the world. Another culprit is ‘planned obsolescence’, a business strategy with an ethics problem.
Manufacturers want repeat customers and so longevity is not a priority. It costs manufacturers money to repair products, and it’s often cheaper to simply replace broken items. It’s also profitable to dictate who can do repairs, sometimes under threat of nullifying the warranty if something is repaired by an unauthorised party.
“There is now a backlash occurring, and as a result, manufacturers are having to change their products so that there is a ‘right to repair’,” Jeff says. The ‘right to repair’ concept is becoming more widespread. Consumer NZ says it’s going mainstream, with companies like Apple making supportive noises, and legislators in Australia and the United Kingdom forcing manufacturers to repair cars through independent garages and supply spare parts for gadgets. Minister for the Environment David Parker is a fan and Kiwi businesses could soon be legally bound to ensure old devices can be repaired too.
Jeff says this policy may force a rethink. “Producers are thinking, ‘If we have to repair it, that will cost us a fortune and that will come back on us. So, therefore we need to make things that are more useable’.”
Environmental and health impacts
E-waste contains a variety of minerals and elements, including precious metals and heavy metals. Many of these are contaminants, says University of Canterbury professor of environmental chemistry Brett Robinson. Elements like lead, cadmium, mercury and copper bind very strongly to soils where they stay forever or are taken up by plants.
But Brett says there are many other chemical elements that are not well understood – such as gallium and indium, which are used in the manufacture of flat panel displays. It is not known just how mobile they are in soil or how harmful they can be. At some level, all of these contaminants are toxic to microbes and plants, he says.
Some types of flame retardants that are used in plastics on electronic devices are also extremely toxic and very mobile, so can leach into groundwater. Air pollution can also be a problem. “If e-waste is burned, you get chemicals called dioxins forming – the same chemical that caused environmental damage in Vietnam with Agent Orange.”
Brett says most of what is collected at recycling centres usually goes overseas to places like Japan, Singapore and South Korea, where it can be recycled more cost-effectively.
Sadly, in New Zealand most e-waste ends up in landfill. There are upsides and downsides to this, he adds. On the downside, resources are being lost – there is far more gold, silver and palladium in landfills than there is in virgin mines, such as the one in Waihi. On the upside, since the 1990s, landfills have been required to be sealed, so the e-waste doesn’t leach out, although some of it ends up as leachate which is collected and reprocessed by the operator, he says.
Farm dumps
The biggest problem in Aoteroa is the amount of e-waste illegally disposed of on farm dumps, of which there are estimated to be about 30,000 around the country, Jeff tells me. “It’s very hard to regulate because if you have a little valley in the back of beyond, who is going to be there to check it?”
Unlike landfills, these dumps do leach. As water passes through valleys, decaying metals pass into the water system and into vegetable and animal life, where it accumulates. Some elements can also get into groundwater, he says. Their accumulation in humans and animals via water and food can lead to side effects including kidney and bone disease, central nervous system damage and elevated blood pressure.
Product stewardship for e-waste will become mandatory
Spark, Vodafone and 2degrees have a recycling programme for phones called Re:Mobile, and there are collection points for e-waste recycling in many places that you can find out about through your local council or at ewaste.org.nz. However, options for responsible disposal of electronic waste are still limited. But this is set to change.
The Ministry for the Environment is currently in the process of setting up a product stewardship scheme under the Waste Minimisation Act, and e-waste is one of the priority waste streams. Once in place, it will oblige producers to recover e-waste at the end of life and recycle it. There is no date set yet for its implementation.
What we do know is that it will be a user-pays system. “When you go and purchase a piece of electronic equipment covered under the scheme, you’ll pay an extra amount that will pay for its recovery at the end. The scheme will build up money to capture goods at the end and it should be self-supporting,” Brett says.
Not-for-profit TechCollect NZ was established by a group of global technology companies to support the development of a regulated product stewardship scheme in New Zealand, and is working with the government on delivering the scheme at present.
Auckland based company Computer Recycling will likely to be collecting much of this waste once the scheme is up and running. Director Patrick Moynahan has imported a high-tech piece of kit called Blue Box. One of only eight in the world, this machine will increase the amount of e-waste the country currently recycles to 5000 tonnes per year, he says. “That will go quite a long way to recycle the ‘hard to recycle’ material – things like flat screens, small electronics, laptops. We’ll be able to handle the vast majority of what New Zealand produces,” he says. Hard-to-recycle material is anything that can’t be disassembled by hand,
he explains.
The $3 million machine, a 40 foot container-sized shredding unit, operates in a negative vacuum environment, meaning nasties like mercury and cadmium will be contained and the recycling process won’t contribute to the contamination of the workers or the land. The metals will be exported as commodities, where they will be reused in manufactured goods. It also separates out the precious metals into pure commodity streams that can be sold back to refineries.
Computer Recycling collects e-waste from all over the country at one-day-events via business networks and a fleet of trucks and vans that collect waste. “We also work with general waste companies to encourage the collection of e-waste at the point of landfill,” Patrick says. The company will be working with TechCollect and companies implementing the mandatory product stewardship programmes when the time comes.
But Patrick doesn’t think it will be realistically operational for two to three years. Once the regulation is in place, the e-waste recycling sector will expand significantly especially with the help of Blue Box, he says.
“We are hoping to import a few more machines [for other e-waste streams] in a couple of years. If stewardship is introduced and there is a conscious effort to educate the public then there is no reason why we can’t hit 50–60 per cent recycling of waste. Right now, we’re are at about 2 per cent,” Patrick says.