Welcome to Wānaka’s zero waste hub.
Long before governments, councils and regional bodies were talking about carbon reduction, Wastebusters was tackling it head-on, bringing the community together on this journey.
We are a community-enterprise leading meaningful environmental change in consumer and business habits, and supporting our community along the zero waste journey. From recycling services to second-hand shopping, low-waste living workshops to business guidance, we are leading the way to zero waste.
We have charitable status from the Charities Commission, recognising our not-for-profit model which returns all surplus earned through our resource recovery and education services back into zero waste impact for our communities.
Gina leads Wastebusters Wānaka’s team of 50+, seeing waste as a resource with new possibilities. She’s been part of Wastebusters since 2007, moving from communications to resource recovery before becoming GM in 2023. With a background in economics and communications, Gina focuses on big-picture thinking, team support, and bringing the next-generation Wastebusters 2.0 hub to life.
Quick-fire facts:
Favourite Wastebusters find: cast iron Japanese teapot (a replica of one I fell in love with in Japan!)
Favourite part of job: working with a talented team to foster resourcefulness and community fun
Big believer in: creating change by bringing everyone with us
Matias joined Wastebusters in 2023, leading the Reuse and Recycle Team with energy, heart, and a practical approach. A finance and operations professional, he’s worked in auditing, farming, wine, and ski fields, honing skills in smarter systems, efficiency, and sustainable procurement.
Quick-fire facts:
Favourite Wastebusters find: record player, now enjoying garage jam sessions
Favourite part of job: seeing great ideas come to life with the team
Big believer in: sustainability through practical, efficient teamwork
Sophie has spent 15 years at Wastebusters driving zero-waste education and behaviour change projects. She thrives on collaboration to accelerate the circular economy, delivering impactful community initiatives and strengthening Wastebusters’ consultancy and outreach.
Quick-fire facts:
Favourite Wastebusters find: Andrea Moore green velvet jacket, still going strong after 10 years
Favourite part of job: working with clever, dedicated, fun people
Big believer in: “From little things, big things grow”
Ruth brings 20 years’ experience in communications and journalism to share Wastebusters’ zero-waste story. Since 2019, she’s been a “fixing fairy” at Repair Revolution events and pairs data-driven insights with heart-led storytelling to support workshops, events, and school education.
Quick-fire facts:
Favourite Wastebusters find: the epic community
Favourite part of job: working with passionate, curious, fun people
Big believer in: individual action changing the world (together)
Katy manages Wastebusters’ budgets, projects, and team culture. Joining in 2016 with a research and project management background, she balances numbers with people skills. She’s also active in the Wānaka community as parkrun event manager and treasurer for the Community Resilience Group.
Quick-fire facts:
Favourite Wastebusters find: first bedding when our container from the UK was delayed
Favourite part of job: the people
Big believer in: fairness, integrity, community, and teamwork
Wastebusters management team, led by general manager Gina Dempster, creates the big picture vision for Wānaka Wastebusters Ltd, which trades as Wastebusters. They report to a Board of Directors who watch over the financial health of the company. The current Board is composed of:
Mat Woods (chair)
Caroline Harker
Hamish Sisson
Erica Brooks
Kurt Sanford
Adam Sharman
Simon Millar
Pierre Poyet
Wastebusters is owned by the incorporated society called the Friends of Wānaka Wastebusters (FOWW), and our long-term vision is overseen by the FOWW executive committee, which is elected by members at the yearly AGM:
Robyn Bardas (chair)
Lawrence Loscombe
Susie Meyer
Ruth Blunt
Chelsea Quider
Adam Hall
Anyone can become a member of the Friends for only $10. Fill out the membership form here.
Learn about our collective impact here and how you can get involved!
Our famous environmental hub is dedicated to a zero waste, zero carbon future, our reuse store has twice been voted the best shop in the Upper Clutha!
Located on Balantyne Road in Wānaka we are open 9am – 5pm, 7 days a week.
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
Let us know what you love & what we could do better & you’ll go into the draw to win a $250 restaurant voucher!