Te Ipukarea Society has been trialing the rent a plate portable dishwashing trailer at the Muri Night Market for several nights over the past two months. The more nights the rent-a-plate is operating, the less rubbish from disposeable plates and cutlery ends up in our landfill.

While we have been operating the trailer ourselves to date, it was never our intention to take this on permanently.

We see it as a great fundraiser for schools, sporting groups, or any charitable organisation that can benefit from a bit of extra money. 

The trial has been quite successful, and we have managed to make a number of improvements based on trial and error. 

We now have advertising signs we put around at supportive food vendors, as well as on the tables used by the patrons.

Thanks to some Vaka Pride sponsorship we have been able to also invest in a solar charging unit to keep the 12v battery topped up.

This runs our lights and water pump, so we are fully self sufficient for power and water supply.

When the original rent a plate was operated by Apii Te Uki Ou several years ago, they found it to be very successful. 

However, over several years, some of the motivated students, parents and teachers have moved on. 

This, combined with the impact of Covid closing down the night market for two years, resulted in that enterprise being discontinued. 

However, information received from those pushing the rent a plate back then indicates that, with the right entrepreneurial approach, it can be quite profitable.

Their best nights raised around $400 and usually between $250 and $300.

We have not been doing that well ourselves but think some motivated young people could really get the crowd engaged and more vendors and hungry patrons supporting.

If you are part of a group or organisation that could benefit from using the rent-a-plate trailer as a fundraiser, please let us know. 

Ideally you will need to have access to a vehicle with a tow bar, to transport the trailer to the venue where it will operate. 

We will provide full training in how everything works, and can work with the group for the first few nights to iron out any queries that may come up. 

Ideally three or four people are required to operate the renta a plate but the more the better.  

This will allow for more outreach ammong the patrons to encourage them to rent a plate and cutlery. 

That is why Te Uki Ou School did so well, as the students moved through the food vendors and customers promoting the initiative

The rent-a-plate can also be loaned or rented out for any event such as school galas, music festivals, weddings, large birthday parties etc. 

It has already been used very successfully by the Rarotonga Brewery at the opening of their new premises in Arorangi.

A big shout out to those food vendors who have come on board by having the reusable plates and cutlery avaiailable at their food stalls.  These include Island Crepes,  Uncle Joes, and Cajun cooking.

Contact us on 21144 or email info@tiscookislands.org if you would like to learn more about using the rent-a-plate trailer.