Food scraps kerbside service
Food waste going to landfill is a major problem in New Zealand. When anything organic sits in landfill (i.e. paper, linen fabric, garden waste or food scraps), the lack of oxygen means it will not compost naturally. This creates methane, which is a climate warming gas 28 times more powerful than carbon dioxide.
Government mandate
In early 2023, the Government announced that all Councils must implement a food scrap collection by 2030.
We are currently working hard on a proposal to make this happen by 2026. There’s a lot of factors we need to think about, like:
- the kind of caddy you’ll use to collect food in your kitchen
- what the street collection bin will look like and how it will operate
- the trucks needed for collection
- how to manage apartment blocks and retirement villages
- negotiating a contract with a service provider
- where the food scraps will be sent to break down, and;
- which method will be used to break down the scraps
So you can see that it’s a big job.
The last time we opened up Waipā rubbish bags, we found that 36.6 percent of our rubbish was food waste.
That's 3.6kg a week for every house in the district! Just over half of food waste in New Zealand is ‘avoidable’, which means it was perfectly good to eat at some stage, but we let it go bad and put it into the rubbish bin. And sometimes we didn’t even open the packet before it was chucked into the bin! During the audit, we found a huge variety of food that still looked good to eat but it was heading to a landfill.
To turn these stats around, we host a variety of public education and engagement projects, like:
- teaching residents how to compost or worm farm
- how to meal plan and use their leftovers, and;
- where to donate excess food.
A few more options for food lovers
We support the Food Lovers Masterclasses with Kate Meads.
At Kate's masterclass, you’ll learn the ‘what, why, and how’ we waste our valuable food, and leave with the knowledge and strategies to make a real difference and save money!
The Easy Choice Healthy Kai cookbooks are free.
A Love Food Hate Waste initiative, the Easy Choice Family Kai Cookbook and menu planner helps families shop for and eat nourishing affordable food.
And all the food bought for the week is used up, none ends up in the bin!
Love Food, Hate Waste
The Love Food, Hate Waste Programme has a goal to reduce food waste in Aotearoa by 10 percent by 2030.
They’ve got a range of great resources and tips to help you make the most of food and reduce the amount of good food going in the bin.
What can I do in the meantime, before the kerbside service begins?
If you’re keen to reduce your food waste at home, check out our ideas and tips in the Waste Less Living section.