The Challenge is on!

Recycling, buying less packaging, composting. It all sounds good, but can we really do it? Are we prepared to have our rubbish habits “exposed” to the rest of the world?

To give people a chance to prove that they can reduce their rubbish and at the same time be in to win some excellent prizes, the Reduce Your Rubbish Challenge is now on, as part of the Ministry for the Environment and ARC Reduce your Rubbish campaign.

To take part in the Reduce Your Rubbish Challenge all people need to do is to log into the http:// http://www.reducerubbish.govt.nz website before 7 June and pledge to reduce their household rubbish, and stick to those habits for the period of the challenge (the month of June).

People will be chosen at random from those who have pledged, to have their rubbish audited by local council waste officers to see if they’re living up to their pledge.

“If you are living up to your pledge, then you go in the draw to win some fantastic prizes. It’s really simple, you’re not competing against others, you’re competing against yourself,” said ARC chairperson Gwen Bull, who signed up her household to the Challenge this week.

Challenge entrants will be in to win some excellent prizes from a $10,000 prize pool including five Fisher and Paykel SmartDrive washing machines and five $500 supermarket shopping vouchers.

“The Challenge offers people some proactive things they can do to reduce New Zealand’s growing mountain of rubbish,” said Cr Bull. “We want to encourage some long-term habits in householders, to recycle and compost rather than filling our landfills. The Challenge offers some fantastic prizes and is a fun way of getting into some good habits.”

The Reduce Your Rubbish campaign is encouraging householders to recycle as much as they can, compost their green waste and buy as little packaging as possible. “The Reduce Your Rubbish Challenge brings these messages to life by giving people something real to do with the chance of winning some real prizes,” said Cr Bull.

New Zealanders throw away 3.6 million tonnes of rubbish every year. The crazy thing is that around 65 percent of our "rubbish" can be recycled or composted instead.

To enter, go to http:// http://www.reducerubbish.govt.nz fill in the challenge entry form and get on with recycling, reducing rubbish and composting!

© Scoop Media