Summer’s on its way, and we’re kicking things off with a big day at Wasties. Our Summer Fair is your chance to get ready for long days, warm weather and making the most of our beautiful backyard, without buying new. We’ll be bringing out heaps of summer gear, including: ∙Summer clothing∙Adventure and watersport gear∙Tramping and […]
A thriving veggie garden starts with healthy soil, and healthy soil starts with the right recipe. Whether you’re starting from scratch and want to know what and when to plant, or wondering why your plants aren’t quite thriving, Dr Compost has the tips and tricks to get you growing. In this free workshop, you’ll learn […]
A thriving veggie garden starts with healthy soil, and healthy soil starts with the right recipe. Whether you’re starting from scratch and want to know what and when to plant, or wondering why your plants aren’t quite thriving, Dr Compost has the tips and tricks to get you growing. In this free workshop, you’ll learn […]
A little bike know-how can go a long way. Bike Basics 101 is a free, friendly evening all about helping you understand your bike, build your repair skills and feel more confident getting out and riding. Ted from Racers Edge will kick things off with a Bike 101 session, covering the essential fixes every rider […]
Summer is the time to make the most of your veggie garden — and keep your soil healthy. Whether you’re wondering what to do with your kitchen scraps, when to harvest your veggies, or what to plant next, Dr Compost has the tips and tricks to keep things growing. In this free workshop, you’ll learn […]
Summer Harvest; Gather, Nourish, Grow Summer is the time to make the most of your veggie garden — and keep your soil healthy. Whether you’re wondering what to do with your kitchen scraps, when to harvest your veggies, or what to plant next, Dr Compost has the tips and tricks to keep things growing. […]
Introducing Low Waste Tramping, something new for our Low Waste Living series. We love getting out into the hills, but heading away for a day or a few nights can come with a surprising amount of stuff. Food packets, toiletries, single-use bits and pieces… it all adds up. So we’re bringing together some good people, […]
Save the date for the Wastebusters Sustainable Christmas Market 2026! Join us on Saturday 28 November for a festive day out at Wastebusters, with around 45 stalls, live music, local food and treats, and hands-on Christmas activities. After welcoming more than 600 people in 2025, we’re excited to bring the community together again for another […]
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!