At Wastebusters, we accept a range of electronic items for responsible recycling, helping keep valuable resources in circulation and harmful materials out of landfill.
We accept items including computers, laptops, TVs, mobile phones, printers, cables, keyboards, mice, modems and routers.
Unlike many other recyclable materials, e-waste costs money to collect, transport and process safely.
Electronic items contain a mix of materials that need to be carefully dismantled and separated so valuable resources can be recovered and hazardous substances can be managed responsibly.
Unfortunately, these recycling costs aren’t currently covered by the manufacturers or retailers who sell the products.
This means we need to pass on these costs to customers to make sure electronic items are recycled responsibly.
We keep our fees as low as we can, and the money collected helps cover the cost of the recycling process.
Most electronic items have a recycling fee, but mobile phones can be dropped off for free.
Electronic items contain both valuable resources and materials that can be harmful to the environment if they aren’t disposed of correctly.
Some electronics contain hazardous substances, including lead, mercury and cadmium, which can contaminate soil and water if not managed properly.
They also contain valuable materials such as copper, gold, aluminium, steel and plastics that can be recovered and used again.
Recycling e-waste helps us:
– Keep hazardous materials out of landfill.
– Recover valuable resources that can be used again.
– Reduce the need to extract new raw materials.
– Keep useful materials in circulation for longer.
The e-waste you drop off at Wastebusters is sent to our recycling partner, E-Cycle, where it is dismantled and separated into different materials and components.
Some materials, including cables, metals and certain types of glass, can be recycled or refurbished in New Zealand.
Other materials, such as circuit boards, batteries and some plastics, need to be sent overseas to specialist recycling facilities because we don’t currently have the facilities to process them here.
This process helps recover valuable materials while making sure hazardous components are handled responsibly.
We believe the cost of recycling electronic products should be built into their purchase price, rather than falling on the people trying to dispose of them responsibly.
This is called product stewardship, and it’s something Wastebusters has been advocating for over many years.
E-waste was declared a priority product under the Waste Minimisation Act in 2020, an important step towards making manufacturers and importers more responsible for the products they sell.
Until a fully funded system is in place, we’ll continue doing
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!
