25 years of Wastebusters and how you can support the next chapter

This year, we are celebrating 25 years of zero waste mahi in Wānaka! From our humble beginnings, with a small group of passionate locals with a big dream, we’ve grown into an award-winning zero-waste hub that has diverted thousands of tonnes from landfill and inspired change across our region. 

For a quarter of a century, Wasties has been built on a community effort and the belief that we can do better for our environment and each other. From repairing and reusing to recycling and reducing, our journey has always been about more than waste reduction. It’s about creating a culture of care – valuing our resources, looking after our things and leading the way by enabling action. 

Now, as Wānaka continues to grow, it’s time for Wastebusters to grow too. Help us shape the future with Wastebusters 2.0: Our vision is to expand into a bigger, better community hub that can keep more valuable resources in circulation for longer, and inspire our region to lead the charge towards a zero-waste district for many years to come.

Wastebusters has always been driven by people and community. From our loyal customers who donate their treasures and shop with us, to the amazing volunteers who give their time and our incredible staff – our recycling team sorting materials by hand, and the friendly faces you see behind the till at our reuse shop and yard. This next chapter is no different, and to make it happen, we need your support! 

How can you back Wastebusters 2.0?

Here are some simple but powerful ways that you can show your support to help us bring our vision to life!

  • Pledge your support on our Community Support for Wastebusters 2.0 page – add your name and help us show our funders how much community support we have behind us
  • Head along to our 25 year anniversary Community Day on September 20th for a day of celebrations! 25% off all day, cake, Wasties stories and hear from our GM on our plans for the future + help us co-create the vision for Wastebusters 2.0
  • Spread the word – tell your friends and family about Wasties, what we do and how they can support our future
  • Start conversations – chat to your friends, neighbours and workmates about why Wastebusters is important and how they can get involved
  • Push for action – let councillors (and those running for council) know that you want them to support Wastebusters 2.0 and advocate for waste reduction in our community
  • Back our supporters – get behind the Wānaka Community Board members who already support Wastebusters
  • Engage online – like, share and comment on our social posts to help spread the word far and wide
  • Stay informed – read and share articles about Wastebusters, like this one from the ODT and this from the Wānaka App. Educate yourself, and help others understand why Wastebusters 2.0 is so important


For 25 years, Wastebusters has been powered by our community. Now with your support, we can take the next big step – creating a future-proof Wastebusters 2.0 that will continue to serve Wānaka, inspire change, and keep resources out of landfill for the next 25 years and beyond!

This is our chance to build something bigger and better together!

wanaka wastebusters yard team in summer

From our General Manager - Na Tō Tātou Kaiwhakahaere

This year our amazing Wastebusters whānau has been busy keeping everything we can out of landfill and supporting resourcefulness in our community while also working on bringing our dream of Wastebusters 2.0 into reality.

We were humbled and absolutely stoked to take home the Wānaka Chamber of Commerce Business Awards Supreme Business Award, along with the Community Contribution and Business Sustainability awards. This success was a powerful recognition of the dedicated mahi of our entire team, giving us huge confidence for the ambitious journey ahead.

We welcomed Aviette Musin on a fixed-term contract as our new Programme Manager for Wastebusters 2.0. Her expertise provided the dedicated, focused capacity needed to accelerate progress on this strategic goal.

Funding was secured through Queenstown Lakes Community Composting Project for the Compost Collect pilot, a joint venture with our neighbours Wānaka Greenwaste that will turn commercial food scraps into valuable compost, launching in 2026. We also intensified our focus on Construction and Demolition (C&D) materials, trialling diversion methodology and securing initial partnerships to divert waste from landfill. With our current site so space-constrained, we are extremely limited in the C&D materials which can be accepted for reuse, but this work will lay the groundwork for future diversion on a bigger site.

We made a compelling case to the Council for the necessary land expansion for Wastebusters 2.0 and prepared for the MfE Waste Minimisation Fund application process to support our expansion plans. 

A continued focus for us this year has been on strengthening the Wastebusters whānau and ensuring we are equipped not just for the daily challenges, but for future growth. We continued to be a Living Wage employer, reflecting our commitment to the well-being and value of our staff. Feedback from the team via staff survey results highlighted strong morale and resilience within our workplace culture with 89% saying they enjoy working at Wastebusters and 93% feeling cared for by their manager. 

The district’s rapid growth brings challenges as well as opportunities, particularly the Ballantyne Road/Riverbank Road roadworks which demanded flexibility and good humour from our team and customers throughout 2024. Despite the road cones, ongoing community support ensured our Reuse Shop continued to be a first choice destination for both locals and visitors. Improved donation flows and adding new changing rooms has made the shop operation smoother and more efficient for everyone.

Wastebusters’ partnership with events continues to go from strength to strength: including the trial of a food scraps collection from vendors. And our Recycle team did the huge job of relabeling all our events recycling bins to align with national recycling colours, making it easier for event-goers to know what to do. Wastebusters recycling trucks continue to be a much-loved presence in town servicing our 408 business customers, with the team doing a great job of keeping our aging fleet serviceable, in line with our kaupapa of keeping resources in use for as long as possible. 

Our Reduce team has continued to deliver exceptional impact, with more than 11,000 people engaged in person through our education and engagement in the community. The Resourceful Communities programme inspires our community to take action and builds the knowledge and know how to engage in areas like repair, low waste living and textile waste diversion. It is proudly supported by QLDC’s zero waste district’s programme which recognises the impact of community connection for zero waste action. 

We were stoked to join Environment Hubs Aotearoa, and we look forward to collaborating with this network and amplifying our collective impact on environmental action and resourcefulness across Aotearoa.

We worked with an impact consultant to implement an evaluation framework and behaviour change model to better plan, deliver and measure our impact, and have begun rolling out our learnings across all our programmes.

It was a busy year in advocacy, starting with participation in QLDC’s Waste Management and Minimisation Plan process. We appreciated QLDC’s approach in bringing Wastebusters and other stakeholders in early in the process, which has resulted in a constructive plan for the next six years. Wastebusters has also made submissions on national and local level, including The Right to Repair Bill, the Container Return Scheme and the publicly notified resource consent for McDonald’s in Wānaka.

Ultimately, this year has been about delivering impact while building the foundations for a much larger and even more impactful operation, securing Wastebusters’ future for our community. The heart of our work remains resource recovery and community engagement, and we enter the next 25 years of zero waste leadership with great confidence, welcome community support and an unwavering focus. 

Gina Dempster

General Manager

November 2025

wastebusters yard team summer fair 2024

Wastebusters Community Survey is live!

Let us know what you love & what we could do better & you’ll go into the draw to win a $250 restaurant voucher!

START THE SURVEY