Zero Waste Network Aotearoa

We are jumping ahead to share more about Day 3 of our summit because our specially curated site tour options have limited capacity. 🚶🚶♂️🚶♀️Option 1: Walking tour of CBD including Te Aro Zero Waste, KB Kombucha, Nisa, & Tuatua cafe. 🚴♀️🚴♂️🚴Option 2: Walking tour of CBD + ebike tour from Switchedon Bikes to Fillgood, Bikespace, Cairns st hub with Kaicycle, Yumjar & Nonstop solutions, wrapping up at Parrot Dog brewery at Lyall bay. 🚎🚌🚃Option 3: Van trip from Te Aro Xero Waste up the coast to Otaihanga Zero Waste, then on to Wellington’s famous Tip Shop. All 3 options begin their day with coffee, a kōrero and a tour of the freshest CRC in Aotearoa (+ the most urban too!) Te Aro Zero Waste recently opened their doors and we are so excited to be able to see inside in November. Grab your tickets right here: https://lnkd.in/gqhD-Uw6

**September Issue of Getting to Zero Out Now!** Read and enjoy all of the great zero waste stories, events and projects from around Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland this month including awesome work from Localised , TROW Group, Eke Panuku Development Auckland, Awataha Marae, Earth Action Trust, West Auckland Resource Centre,  Octalien, MPHS, PACIFIC VISION AOTEAROA, Rākau Tautoko, The Compost Collective, WasteMINZ, and Repair Festival Aotearoa New Zealand 2024, Read, subscribe & enjoy! https://lnkd.in/gQuhnFH2

Calling all early birds, keen beans, forward thinkers, love-a-plan sorts… Our early bird tickets for the Zero Waste Aotearoa National Summit 2024 are NOW LIVE! Come and join 3 days of connection with all your Zero Waste friends across Aotearoa. We’ll be listening and learning via inspiring speakers and knowledgeable panelists, workshopping on specific waste streams, collaborating with others wearing the same hats as us but from other corners of the country, wrapped around plenty of netCalling all early birds, keen beans, forward thinkers, love-a-plan sorts… Our early bird tickets for the Zero Waste Aotearoa National Summit 2024 are NOW LIVE! Come and join 3 days of connection with all your Zero Waste friends across Aotearoa. We’ll be listening and learning via inspiring speakers and knowledgeable panelists, workshopping on specific waste streams, collaborating with others wearing the same hats as us but from other corners of the country, wrapped around plenty of networking fun to catch up with old friends, and to link in our new members or anyone traveling solo. Our programme details will be announced soon, but for now we promise you big picture thinking, inspiration, connection and hope which is what a lot of us need right now. We are also looking forward to an array of local zero waste Wellington awesomeness to welcome us, feed us, and show us their backyards too. Sharing a big thank you to our early bird sponsors who have helped us pull this event together for you all: Rothbury Insurance Brokers, Takeaway Throwaways, Localised, BRANZ, Waste Not Consulting and Switchedon Bikes. If you’d like to partner with us to sponsor this great gathering please get in touch! To find out more and book your early bird tickets visit https://lnkd.in/gqhD-Uw6

Today marks the start of the ‘Super Local’ Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) conference in Te Whanganui-a-Tara/Wellington. We wanted to take the opportunity to celebrate the Zero Waste Network local government members who are doing awesome work towards making Aotearoa waste-free. Local government has an incredibly important role as they are on the coldface of waste collection everyday in our communities. Local government is responsible for preparing a waste management and minimisation plan every six years – this sets the goals and aspirations of the community for getting rid of waste. Auckland Council (and of course, all the amazing people of the Auckland region) are on a mission to make Tāmaki Makaurau zero waste by 2040. Auckland Council is funding and establishing a network of community recycling centres which divert material from landfill instead of standard “transfer stations.” This re-using of items and re-purposing of materials also benefits the local community through affordable items and job creation. Council has a plan for 20 centres across the district to contribute to the goal of zero waste Auckland by 2040. Whaingāroa/Raglan’s Xtreme Zero Waste has been contracted since 2000 by Waikato District Council to operate the Raglan Resource Recovery Centre. Their main objective here is to increase the ability of the community to REUSE. Meanwhile, zero waste heroes Wastebusters’ Slow Fashion Month is supported by Queenstown Lakes District Council Zero Waste District Programme. Our local government members include: Auckland Council, Gisborne District Council, Kaikoura District Council, Marlborough District Council, Nelson City Council, Queenstown Lakes District Council, Ruapehu District Council, Selwyn District Council, South Wairarapa District Council, Tasman District Council - Te Kaunihera o te tai o Aorere, Tauranga City Council, Timaru District Council, Upper Hutt City Council, Waikato District Council, Waikato Regional Council, Waipā District Council, Wellington City Council and Western Bay of Plenty District Council.   We also appreciate LGNZ advocating for the waste levy, for a container return scheme and for Māori Wards. The levy is key to funding waste reduction projects and driving change. Local government desperately needs to be supported by Central government with waste regulations that stop waste creation at the source and best practice product stewardship schemes. Local government is severely constrained in being able to stop the production and importation of materials that are destined for landfill. This isn’t fair – communities should have the ability to regulate what comes in and out of their communities, and stop the filling up of their landfills. The levy alone cannot do that as the price is just passed along to the consumer. Mandatory product stewardship (like a container return scheme) could be a game changer for large waste streams like construction and demolition waste and plastics with the right settings.

Please join us this Wednesday and Thursday for our Afternoon Pick-me-ups! For those in our network who weren't able to make the Wasteminz conference, some of our team and ZWN members who presented are going to share their presentations virtually next week. On Wednesday from 2-3pm via zoom: Join via zoom: https://lnkd.in/gv2_GHYJ **Liam Prince shares an update from Aotearoa Composters Network pecha kucha style. **Trish Hurley of Waitaki Resource Recovery Centre: Recovery of people using the waste stream. **Rachel Glasier from Envision shares EveryBite - a food waste prevention programme collaborating with hubs around Aotearoa. The Rubbish Trip Aotearoa Composters Network Waitaki Resource Recovery Park On Thursday from 2-3pm join via zoom: https://lnkd.in/g8M4CnUp Sue Coutts: Playing Whack-a-mole with incinerators. Ali Kirkpatrick from Sustainability Trust and FillGood, a pilot initiative aiming to eliminate disposable serviceware.

Media statement: Government fails on plastic pollution From: Zero Waste Network Aotearoa DATE: 24 June 2024 As Plastic Free July approaches, the Ministry for the Environment is indicating that the long-awaited third phase of plastics phase-outs has been put on hold. Even if the government decides to go ahead with them again, the start date has been postponed by at least another year, to mid-2026. The delay will result in the dumping of millions more plastic items into the environment, and the ongoing contamination of high-quality recycling from our kerbside collections. The regulations were due to come into effect in mid-2025. “These changes have been on the cards for more than three years already. It’s hard to understand why the Government is dithering around over this. Will we or won’t we flip-flopping creates uncertainty for business,” says Sue Coutts of the Zero Waste Network Aotearoa. “There are good reasons why these PVC and polystyrene packaging products were put onto the phase out list in the first place. They are hard-to-recycle and contaminate quality recycling streams ending up as litter or rubbish.” “The machines that help to sort our household recycling cannot differentiate between these non-recyclable plastics and the 1, 2 and 5s we are recycling, contributing to contamination of our recycling efforts.”   “The phase out has been in the works for years with many businesses and retailers already making changes to more sustainable options, but regulation is essential if we want to see our recycling systems succeed and have real reductions in plastic waste.” “Both the major supermarket chains and many global brands have signed up to the New Zealand Plastic Packaging Declaration. They have committed to using 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging by 2025 or earlier. This is in line with the broader targets of the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment, to which New Zealand is a signatory. It is reasonable to expect that the Government will hold up its end of the bargain by implementing simple changes that support them to achieve their goals.” said Sue Coutts. “The items on this third tranche of plastics phase outs - PVC and polystyrene food and beverage packaging - are products that already have readily available alternatives, from reusable options to the same products made with much more readily recyclable plastics. The government has no excuse to delay phasing out these items,” says Liam Prince from the Aotearoa Plastic Pollution Alliance. “Without some clear boundaries around which packaging is not acceptable, all the good work being done by proactive companies to put better packaging on the shelves gets undermined by the Government allowing some companies to continue to produce, import and fill non recyclable packaging which ends up as litter, contamination and rubbish,” says Sue Coutts. See our website for the full media statement>> https://lnkd.in/gvmYwxhT

Opening Otaihanga Zero Waste to the public in just one week! The official launch will happen later but it has been a week to acknowledge what has been acheived. It has taken a huge effort from our collaborative team, stakeholders and supporters to make this project happen. We marked the moment by bringing the core team from Kāpiti Coast District Council, Localised, Sustainability Trust and Otaihanga Zero Waste together on-site for kai, celebration and reflection. The site will focus on reusing and recycling construction and demolition waste offering both drop off and sale of reusable items. Our starting 'big five' are timber, building products, metal, PVC and plate glass. Our vision is to create a thriving, vibrant destination for the community that supports local resilience, the circular economy and regeneration. To find out more visit https://lnkd.in/dtege-xB #zerowaste #constructionwaste #constructionmaterials #sustainableconstruction #localsolutions #collaboration

Day 2 at WasteMINZ conference was a full on day from 8am to midnight some might say, with a hub-bub of activity at our exhibitor stall, more connections and ideas sparking and later great networking on the dance floor! We tuned into some excellent presentations on the circular organics project, Sue’s “playing whack-a-mole with incinerators” + food waste prevention updates from various groups involved, + a series from small town NZ to nationwide solutions to Tongan Waste Authority covering how big this issue of textile waste is - a great session to wrap up the day before the dress up party and gala dinner last night where everyone looked and felt fabulous (but no photos to share - yet) We are heading into the final presentations of the conference this morning now and still keen to make the most of our time IRL together. But we are thinking of our members at home and afar and we are planning to share some webinars soon where you too can tune into our team and network members presentations. Drop us a wave in the comments if that would be valuable for you! 👋🏽💚

Day 1 at WasteMINZ conference yesterday was a big day of conversations, connections and celebrations 💚 We loved catching up with our members, collaborators and new council representatives keen to join our kaupapa. There were a lot of inspiring & informative speakers but one question that stuck was to the panel of young talent in the sector (our Hannah included) What Makes You Care? 👋🏽 Richness and diversity of ppl you meet = hope for the future 🙏🏽 Interconnected social and environmental justice system in the world. Making the best use of resources in the world for all people in this world. 🙌🏽We are not above the taiao we whakapapa to it 👌🏽Waste minimisation is tangible and one can see they’re making a difference with it. We are also very proud to take home a couple of awards from last nights excellence awards with our Localised whānau for the zero waste hubs and partners Auckland Council for the Auckland Resource Recovery Network. We were so proud to see network members as finalists in many categories Onehunga Community Recycling Centre, Helensville Zero Waste, Waitaki Resource Recovery Park, & Tauranga City Council taking out the win in their category for their Resource Wise programme - Congratulations! Looking forward to what day 2 will bring 😁😁😁

📣: We’re all set up at WasteMINZ Conference in Kirikiriroa. Come and see us at stall 8 tomorrow until Thursday folks! 👋🏽👋🏽👋🏽 Drop us a wave in the comments if you’re going to be there too? We are looking forward to catching up & connecting, celebrating our membership, inviting others onboard our kaupapa, listening and learning in presentations, and proudly supporting our team when they have their time with the mic too. Sarah & Sei are hosting our space and taking over socials for the next few days ~ stoked to be here representing Zero Waste Network Aotearoa! 🙌🏽 💚