The success of Te Oraka is a team effort, recognising the efforts of many students and staff. Inset: Sustainability Office Kaitakawaenga/Engagement Team Lead Jes Triscott and Tumuaki – Sustainability Office Head Ray O’Brien (bottom).
University of Otago staff and students are extremely proud their Te Oraka thrift shop and sustainability hub has won the International Green Gown Award for student engagement.
Because any university worldwide can enter, winning is huge recognition of Otago staff’s mahi and our student community acting on its sustainability values by helping to run Te Oraka and using the sustainable solutions it provides, Acting Vice-Chancellor Professor Helen Nicholson says.
Chief Operating Officer Stephen Willis says Te Oraka is part of a journey to embed sustainability in everything we do at Otago and have all graduates emerge with the skills, knowledge, and experience to champion sustainability throughout their lives.
This is Otago’s first time in the international finals and its first win.
The award judges say Te Oraka is a remarkable nomination showcasing a superb student-led initiative that notably has clear outcomes, can be replicated, and is yielding impressive results. Underpinned by the circular economy (reusing, repairing, recycling etc) it is leading to systemic change.
Team effort
Tumuaki – Sustainability Office Head Ray O’Brien says the win recognises “a massive number of people sharing a vision,” including our University’s Property Services Division which provided the space in Dunedin’s Anzac Avenue.
Sustainability Office Kaitakawaenga/Engagement Team Lead Jes Triscott says the Te Oraka idea germinated when she and then Property Services Division Custodial Services Manager Annie Blair were chatting about whether students needed more recycling opportunities throughout the year.
It seemed likely because they respond so well to the annual Drop for Good by dropping off the contents of flats they are vacating at the end of the year for recycling, a joint initiative with the Otago University Students Association.
Then the pair became “hugely inspired by Wastebusters in Wānaka and how they divert waste from landfill” – during the Southern Lakes’ annual sustainability Wao Summit – so proposed creating a University thrift shop to recycle clothes, bedding, furniture, and appliances.
Research by former student and Sustainability Office summer intern Emma Crampton confirmed the pair were on the right track, that Te Oraka could be more than a thrift shop, and exactly who it could work with in our community to become more.
Crampton also designed a two-stage plan for Te Oraka’s creation “that turned it into what it is now,” says Triscott. She believes the award is a celebration of “everyone we have collaborated with and our students and the magic they bring to the place”.
Te Oraka also “shows what you can create when you engage with your community, employ students, and really … take a risk.”
Te Oraka events, like the Bike Grab, help support local charities.
What it does
O’Brien says Te Oraka – the Good Space is a ‘living lab’ that showcases the circular economy by being created from recycled items and pouring all income generated back into its activities.
“We believe our multi-faceted approach, tailored to our needs, is leading by example in New Zealand’s tertiary sector and possibly Australia’s – and Te Oraka can only grow as more fresh minds join our community,” he says.
The benefits
“We have been incredibly surprised … every day the store is open, students are there.”
Te Oraka-run night markets – for students to showcase their businesses – attract about 250 students and there is one this Thursday (20 July), from 5pm-8pm in the foyer of Unipol Recreation at 130 Anzac Avenue, he says.
Triscott says Te Oraka helps the University’s Recycling Centre when it gets inundated with good quality dated furniture no longer suitable for the workplace by selling some to staff and students at “very competitive prices”.
Regular Bike Grabs – where students pay koha to own a bike – raised more than $1000 dollars for Southern Youth Development which reclaims the bikes from landfill then refurbishes them for ‘sale.’ The trust helps young people make good life choices, set goals, and build their confidence.
There’s more …
The store also has a refill station for hand soap, dishwashing liquid and laundry liquid, and hosts workshops on making reusable menstrual pads, Tetrapak and electrical recycling, and repairing bikes.
Te Oraka stocks local sustainable brands, including Coral Cone menstrual cups supplied at a reduced price to help tackle period poverty, and the student small businesses Swooping Tui homemade skin care and Mimi Collective sustainable candles.
The annual Drop for Good diverted about 85 tonnes of waste from landfill in 2021 to be sold to student fitting out their flats the following year, and the recent drop saw many staff using our University’s new Social Impact Leave to volunteer to sort and stack goods.
Te Oraka has also let staff support students by donating quality goods. And four student groups researched Te Oraka to examine behaviour change and sustainable action.
The store provides skill-building opportunities for University and Otago Polytechnic students as well when they volunteer to ‘work’ there.
Te Oraka promotes sustainability as a way of life, organising workshops and events to help students and staff learn more about how to live sustainably.
Relationships
In general, hosting events and collaborations has helped strengthen the Sustainability Office’s relationships, and three student committees book the space for safe, inclusive events and gatherings, something they had limited free access to previously, Triscott says.
Te Oraka is led by our University’s Sustainability Office’s Tētēkura (Student Leads), which it employs part-time, including Mae Hurinui and Phoebe Wood this year.
On the way
The future includes selling portable planter boxes of vegetable plants at a reduced price, workshops for clothing repairs and alterations, repurposing workshops, queer events, and electrical repair cafés.
Why?
Te Oraka – open every Tuesday and Thursday from 11am to 1pm – has shown creating spaces is important for authentically engaging students and staff, simplifying sustainable solutions is essential to spark action, and behaviour changes can be embedded when skills, values, and solutions are accessible and affordable, Triscott says.