Social sustainability at Crestwood

As one of Metlifecare’s initial pilot villages for its ‘Enviro Group’ programme, Crestwood Village created a team of dedicated resident volunteers with a mission: to significantly reduce the village’s food waste.

Led by resident Helen Haslam, ‘The Green Team’ developed and implemented the food scraps project – essentially encouraging every household to collect their weekly food scraps and dispose of them in easily accessible bins.

The team achieved remarkable success. They estimated 98% of Crestwood residents engaged with the food scraps programme and diverted around 11 tonnes of food scraps from going into landfill in the first year.

While the project’s focus was to reduce food waste, the team noted some residents were less mobile, or appeared isolated from the village community at times, so they agreed that increasing social sustainability should play a significant part in the project.

The team’s door knocking, kind but persistent calling in, led to many invitations for a cup of tea and a chat, which in turn encouraged engagement amongst residents and brought a sense of purpose and contribution for some residents, regardless of their physical mobility.

Almost two years later, the social connection remains strong, thanks to residents like Jenny Pease and Anna Tibbutt who kindly volunteered to take over the ongoing consultation in the serviced apartments. Together Anna and Jenny encouraged their neighbours to remain engaged with the programme by guiding them through a necessary but complex changeover process from the initial food scraps collection company to the new Auckland Council system.

“We spent a couple of days chatting to people about the changes to the programme and just sat listening to their stories to get them interested,” says Jenny. “Initially, some people weren’t open to it as they felt they weren’t mobile enough or able to take part, so it was a matter of coming up with a solution for them.”

One such solution came from ‘the two Tonys’ – a couple of residents (aptly called Tony) who drop by the serviced apartments each Monday morning to collect food scraps from those who are unable to place them in the bins themselves.

“The two Tonys have been great, and they provide a couple of friendly faces and a warm hello,” adds Jenny.

Anna says the serviced apartment residents have become quite the “little tribe” within the village, now that they know each other better.

“We’re like a colony within a community,” she laughs. “It’s important older people know who their neighbours are and check in on each other by phone or with a quick visit. A neighbour who I didn’t know now joins me in the garden every now and then and has also joined our walking group.”

Helen says she’s “absolutely delighted” with the social success of this sustainability project.

“I walk past their units and hear far more chatting and laughter over cups of tea than I ever used to. It’s really heart-warming to see.”