Trish Hurley is a proud promoter of plastic-free living.

In Trish’s house, they produce half a bag of rubbish every six months. She attributes this to only buying things she knows can be recycled.

Trish manages the Waitaki Resource Recovery Trust. Having worked in waste recovery for nearly 20 years, she has “a lot of experience at seeing different things happen in different regions”.

“People don't realise that when you create rubbish, you've always got to pay something, but when you have recycling, there's a smaller charge, and it's actually better for the environment. So the more we can do to create less waste, the better we will be.

“I know what we can do. We are happy to try and help people find other ways than creating waste and to do more recycling,” Trish says.

One such way is the upcoming Plastic Free July Expo & Repair Café, being held at the Waitaki Recreation Centre this Saturday (July 12), between 10am and 2pm.

Several successful repair cafés have been held in the Waitaki in the past two years, and this will be the second Plastic Free July Expo.

Trish hopes the day will show people it's easier to grab something which can be reused time and time again rather than having something plastic you can only use once or twice.

Attendees can bring items for repair across a range of categories, including welding jobs, bicycles, sewing, jewellery, carpentry and lawnmowers.

The expo aims to showcase various sustainable initiatives.

Highlights include presentations from Just One Thing Waitaki, slow fashion, and reusable products for your home.

Two workshops are generating significant interest: a cheese-making workshop and the Recycle a Device workshop. Both require registration before Saturday.

Recycle a Device offers an opportunity for 20 participants to "learn how to diagnose issues within their device, get their device up and running, and they get to keep that laptop at the end of it", Trish says.

“We've only got a few spots left for that.”

To get involved in the workshops, or for any inquiries email [email protected], or phone 03 434 0999.

Community feedback on past repair cafes and events has been overwhelmingly positive, with "great community support".

While a select few are already committed to a zero-waste path, there's a "slowly building momentum with other people coming along”, Trish says.

Trish is often found out and about, teaching people "how to live plastic free or as plastic free as possible".

She also offers waste audits to prove how small the footprint can be and how much less waste they can have.

For those wishing to embark on their plastic-free journey, the advice is simple.

"Just get in touch."

Pamphlets are available detailing what can be recycled, and the local recycling facility is always seeking new markets, “to try and find other things that we can recycle”.

“We actually recycle more here in Ōamaru than a lot of other towns," Trish says.

People have the option to bring a wider range of items directly to the facility, including polystyrene and soft plastics, which are not typically accepted.

“There's about 20 different things that we can actually recycle that aren't in your normal standardised, curbside collection."

Trish is also keen to expand the pool of skilled locals for the repair cafè.

“If you are interested in coming along, if you've got something that you're passionate about that could help with repairs for anything, we are always looking for other repairers.

"We are happy to have as many people as possible be involved in these activities that we run."