But Jack Caldwell has been doing it for years, and now he is about to start a new business selling his innovative re-usable fire starters — affectionately called FireBugs.
The 22-year-old said they were made of a mixture of clay and woodchips, and when they were put in the kiln to get fired, the woodchips burnt away to create porous space.
"Then they get soaked in citronella oil for about 30 minutes.
"When you’re ready to start a fire, you roll it around in the ashes in the fire place and then light it, and it should burn for about 10 minutes.
"That’s long enough to get a fire going."
Then it could be put back into the container of citronella oil, ready for the next time, he said.
"You can use it over and over again — as many times as you want."
He said he came up with the idea for the FireBug when he was in high school.
"Living on a rural farm where mum and dad used a fire place for heating every night during the winter, I came up with an idea to light the fire without having to use kindling and paper.
"I noticed that each time I was starting a fire at home and while out camping, I was using fire starters that were single-use only.
"Not only were those fire starters no friend to the environment, but they also came with loads of packaging and were a pricey, pesky hassle to keep replacing.
"I wanted to see if I could figure out a way to make the process of starting up a fire for homes and campsites across New Zealand more sustainable."
After some "pretty tough" research and development at home, he created an eco-friendly, sustainable fire starter.
The innovation took off when he started studying economics and geography at the University of Otago.
"In my second year, it was getting less affordable to live.
"So I thought rather than doing a part-time job, I’d try and get the FireBugs into a nice little start-up business, and sell them at farmers markets and on my local community Facebook page."
Earlier this year, he took the idea to Audacious 2024 — a programme for students wanting to build their entrepreneurial skills, learn more about start-ups and business, or bring an idea to life.
His innovation recently won the Audacious Industry Disruptor award.
Now he is teaching staff at Cargill Enterprises to make them so they can be sold more widely in the market place.
"The primary goal is, nowadays, everyone is looking to become more sustainable.
"The amount of time and money it takes to go and buy kindling from the supermarket, and the fact that a lot of newspapers are now online, it’s difficult to get resources to get fires going.
"With the FireBug, it’s a fixed cost and it’s always there, ready to go.
"It’ll save people so much time and money over the years."
