Spinning rubbish into gold

Abstract

Ki te kahore he whakakitenga ka ngaro te iwi "Without foresight or vision the people will be lost"

In this case study I introduce a social enterprise in waste and recycling using community development methodology. The study draws on my personal experience as an activist insider and islander, the records of our social enterprise and the extensive public record in the community media.

Rachel Carson’s (1962) seminal work Silent Spring was a clarion call to environmental concern which drew a sharp focus to the poisoning of the planet. Today’s environmentalism poses a powerful critique and in the contemporary lens of sustainable development addresses social and economic as well as environmental concerns. The separation of people from planet as a locus of concern has not served either well. Nor are the realms mutually antagonistic or exclusive (Bradshaw and Winn, 2000). The bringing together of these two themes is evident from the time of the Bruntland Commission (1987) and thereafter through the major international governance conferences and resolutions such as Agenda 21 in 1992, and the Kyoto Protocol in 1997. In this case study I will relate how an enterprising community achieved social, economic and environmental goals building their community capacity and having a lot of fun in the process.