Food for thought

If manufacturers choose to use recycled instead of newly produced raw materials, they can save a considerable amount of energy in the manufactuing process.

Glass              40% 
Newspapers     40% 
Steel               60% 
Plastic             70 % 
Aluminium       95%

Rotorua Sustainable Tourism Charter e-bullietin February 2010

Want to make a difference?

Over the summer I attended four meetings held at various lakes around Rotorua and the big issue that continues to confront us is the amount of phosphates and nitrogen present in our lakes. While RDC and EBOP are doing a fabulous job putting in sewerage systems I believe we should still be trying reduce the nutrients we introduce at source.

Most of the cleaning products available have phosphates in them so the easiest thing to do is start reading labels and pick some that are plant based and phosphate free. There are about 1/2 doz of these on our supermarket shelves and a number are NZ made.

I buy them because they work and to me they smell so much nicer. I started with laundry liquid then dishwasher powder and washing liquid. Now I also use phosphate-free handwash and toilet cleaner, there really are plenty of choices.

Next time you are doing the shopping try the one that's on sale and see what you think.

New Citizens

On Wednesday I attended the Citizenship Ceremony held at the council chambers. These are held about seven times a year for those who have made New Zealand their home and now want to take the next step and become NZ citizens. 


I try to attend as many of these as possible as I enjoy the opportunity to meet those people who choose to call Rotorua home.  Those I managed to chat to over coffee, like an Iranian family, have an obvious love for NZ and Rotorua in particular.  It's also great seeing friends either taking the ceremony or supporting others and it always reminds me what a great community we have.


A native tree is given to each family as part of the ceremony. This is to symbolise the putting down of roots and is a lovely way to recognise the importance of becoming a Kiwi.  On this occasion a ribbonwood tree was given and I hope the recipients read the small print. These trees grow to a height of six metres!

Giant Golf Ball

Keep your eyes peeled for sighting of the giant weather monitor soon to be sited in Mamaku. The structure will appear in the next few months and will allow accurate weather forecasting for the whole of the BOP. Up until now we have had to rely on Auckland for warnings of events like weather bombs. 

We are fortunate to have it sited in the Rotorua region as it requires line of sight to be effective and the Mamaku hills are the best location in the region.

A Greener Village Green

Some of you may have noticed a roped off area where a new type of grass is being trialled on the village green.  This new grass, called couch grass is a warm season grass, which has the benefit of coping very well in dry summer weather. It should stay green even in drought conditions and cope with plenty of use. 

Once the couch grass has been established, a traditional winter grass will be mixed in, resulting in a village green which will stay green all year round.  If this proves to be as successful as we expect, then there may be other sites around the city that would benefit from the same approach.

Rotorua Airport Goes International

What a fabulous start to summer with the first flight from Sydney arriving on the 12 December and now operating twice weekly.  I know that some people were concerned about the possibility of increased noise from the Airbus 320, but most people I have spoken to are barely aware when it is taking off and landing. 

The feedback from travellers I have spoken to is very positive about the efficiency of staff and systems as well as the convenience of flying direct from Rotorua. I am looking forward to my own trip to Sydney next month.  Several people I know have already booked their second! 

Having spent a week in Sydney in June 2008, I can definitely recommend a mid-winter break. It was sunny most days and a very pleasant 18-20C.