Natural Cleaning: A Low Waste Living Workshop Join us for an evening of creativity and connection at our Natural Cleaning workshop at Sherwood! Learn how to make your own simple, affordable, eco-friendly cleaning products in this fun, informative hands-on session. You’ll get to roll up your sleeves and create gorgeous cleaning products, including our tried […]
Back by popular demand, our Natural Cleaning workshop is returning after a run of sold-out events. Join us for an evening focused on simple, affordable ways to keep your home clean, with low-tox, low-waste swaps that can save you money. This workshop is a mix of hands-on making and live demos. You’ll get stuck in […]
Ever wanted to learn how to use power tools but not sure where to start? Join Wastebusters for a hands-on evening focused on building confidence with power tools in a relaxed, beginner-friendly setting. Guided by local builder Chris, participants will get to grips with safely using a skill saw, drop saw, hand saw, drill, and […]
The Wastebusters Repair Revolution is back this winter, and you know the drill… or at least someone there will Our legendary repair heroes are ready to roll up their sleeves and help bring your well-loved items back to life. Join us in Wānaka on Sunday 28 June, 10am–2pm at the Wānaka Community Workshop for a […]
This Plastic Free July, join this workshop (in collaboration with Sustainable Queenstown & Wānaka Wastebusters) to learn how to make eco-friendly beeswax wraps. Ditch cling film and single-use plastics by crafting your own reusable, sustainable food wraps, so you can keep your food fresh while reducing waste! BYO fabric scraps! Cotton fabric ideal. Size suggestions: […]
Curious about making your own natural deodorant? Drop into Wastebusters on Sunday 5 July between 10am and 12pm and we'll show you how. As part of Plastic Free July, we're encouraging people to join the challenge, whether that looks like swapping out one item or multiple items. Making your own deodorant is a great way […]
Join Sustainable Queenstown at Altitude Brewing on Sunday 5th July for an evening of short films, local stories, good chats and practical ideas for reducing plastic in everyday life. To kick off Plastic Free July, we’re screening short films from Aotearoa NZ and around the world, featuring people who made a change in their lives, […]
Curious about making your own natural deodorant? Drop into Wastebusters on Wednesday 8 July between 10am and 12pm and we'll show you how. As part of Plastic Free July, we're encouraging people to join the challenge, whether that looks like swapping out one item or multiple items. Making your own deodorant is a great way […]
To celebrate this Plastic Free July, join Wastebusters and the Hāwea Library for a fun morning of beeswax wraps workshop! All materials provided. This is suitable for all ages. Children must be accompanied by a guardian or caregiver. Spaces are very limited. Please register by emailing or calling Hāwea Library.
To celebrate this Plastic Free July, join Wastebusters and the Wānaka Library for a fun morning of beeswax wraps workshop! All materials provided. This is suitable for all ages. Children must be accompanied by a guardian or caregiver. Spaces are very limited. Please register by emailing or calling Wānaka Library.
Around the world, people are finding new ways to reduce waste, rethink consumption and build stronger communities. This special Plastic Free July film night brings some of those stories to Wānaka. Join Wastebusters for an evening of nine short films from Happen Films and The Story of Stuff Project, exploring everything from living with less waste and […]
The Wastebusters Repair Event is back this August! Join us in Wānaka on Sunday 30 August from 10am to 2pm at the Wānaka Community Workshop for a free, wholesome day of repair. Our amazing volunteer repair heroes are at the very heart of these events. They donate their time and skills to give your well-loved […]
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!