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May 19, 2024

A gift that grows: Hawke’s Bay students’ budding business looks to help schools with paper waste

Share this article Esta Chaplin, left, with fellow Posie Paper pals Lena Ormsby, Bella Casson and Amie Chatterton. The Year 13 Karamu High Students are giving the gift that grows. Photo / Paul Taylor

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Esta Chaplin, left, with fellow Posie Paper pals Lena Ormsby, Bella Casson and Amie Chatterton. The Year 13 Karamu High Students are giving the gift that grows. Photo / Paul Taylor

When Year 13 Karamū High student Esta Chaplin saw how much wastepaper was going straight to landfill she knew she had to take action.

She and her fellow students had the idea to turn yesterday’s unused paper into today’s greeting cards, packed with a seedling surprise for a gift that quite literally grows.

“We’ve all had a bit of a worry about our paper waste,” Chaplin told Hawke’s Bay Today.

A waste audit at the school found 40 per cent of its waste was paper, which was going straight to landfill.

“It’s a large percentage of our waste but we found there was no affordable way for it to be recycled.”

Head student Lena Ormsby said Karamū High was one of the very few schools in Hawke’s Bay that prioritised recycling paper.

“Last year we made planners from recycled paper and this year we’re taking recycled paper from our classes directly and making them into greeting cards.”

Posie Papers takes take large amounts of the school’s waste paper and repurposes it into handmade cards and envelopes.

The envelopes are also embedded with native seeds, so the recipient can grow a plant from something that would otherwise be thrown away.

“We really want to spread the idea of a sustainability culture in our school,” said fellow Posie pusher Amie Chatterton.

The group said it now has its business production model down pat and is pushing its message in the community.

“Everything we are trying to do revolves around taking something that wouldn’t have otherwise had a purpose,” Chaplin said.

Initially, the group said its target market was the elderly, but was pleasantly surprised to see a wide range of students, parents and the community buy products.

“We’ve had interest from so many people across many demographics,” Ormsby said.

“Mums, children, kindergarteners: it’s been really neat to know that our product is so versatile.”

It’s also a hit with the teachers who are stoked when the group offers to take their paper.

“A lot of people are getting really excited about it,” Chaplin said.

Chaplin said the project wouldn’t be complete without the help of business studies teachers who helped champion the idea.

“It definitely hasn’t just been the four of us.”

Next steps for the group include pushing hard to prepare for a large market this weekend, while also thinking of ways to get their product and initiative into other schools in Hawke’s Bay and around the country.

“We really want to reach more schools and take paper from other schools because we know it’s a Hawke’s Bay struggle, with it costing so much to recycle,” Chaplin said.

“It’s such an easy system to adopt,” Ormsby said.

Mitchell Hageman joined Hawke’s Bay Today in late January. From his Napier base, he writes regularly on social issues, arts and culture, and the community. He has a particular love for stories about ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

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