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Green and Food Waste
Information regarding how we deal with Green and Food Waste in the district.
Quick links
Sending organic waste (like food and garden material) to landfills is bad for the environment, as it creates greenhouse gases that exacerbate climate change, while taking up lots of space.
Right now, in Queenstown Lakes District and neighbouring districts, there isn’t a facility to process this kind of waste. That means we can’t start collecting food and certain garden waste yet because there’s nowhere to take it. Once we have access to a proper facility, QLDC will start picking up food and/or garden waste from households.
Until then, we want to encourage folks to compost at home, turning food scraps and garden waste into nutrient-rich soil. QLDC offers discounts on composting tools like bokashi bins and worm farms, and fund workshops on how to use them. See Food Waste below for more info.
When it comes to green waste (like garden stuff), we can't accept everything at the transfer stations due to current processing limitations. Here’s why:
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Stringy plants like cabbage trees and flaxes can tangle up and break the machines that turn waste into mulch.
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Weeds or plants with seeds could spread and affect the quality of mulch.
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Grass clippings and leaves often contain harmful herbicides and break down too fast.
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Wood or timber often contains chemicals, so it can’t be used either.
Until we have access to an organics processing facility, we encourage the community to continue their efforts to reduce waste and compost at home when possible.
Green Waste
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What's accepted:
Hedge trimmings and tree branches up to 400mm in diameter and small tree stumps. This waste is then chipped and reused in the district on parks and reserves.
Cost: click here.
What's not accepted?
Broom, gorse, flax, cabbage trees, grasses (including lawn clippings), leaves, weeds, sawdust, timber off-cuts, crates, wood packaging or gib board
These items will be charged as rubbish and disposed of at the landfill.
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What's accepted:
Hedge trimmings and tree branches up to 400mm in diameter and small tree stumps. This waste is then chipped and reused in the district on parks and reserves.
Cost: click here.
What's not accepted?
Broom, gorse, flax, cabbage trees, grasses (including lawn clippings), leaves, weeds, sawdust, timber off-cuts, crates, wood packaging or gib board
These items will be charged as rubbish and disposed of at the landfill.
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Wanaka Greenwaste and Landscaping Supplies is privately owned and operated and takes all manner of greenwaste, from tree and hedge clippings to weeds and general garden waste.
Please keep all cabbage tree, flax and grass clippings separated.
Location: Ballantyne Road
Hours: Monday - Sunday 10.00am - 3.00pm
Contact: 027 476 6034Also available onsite: Mulch, compost, bark and most landscaping supplies. Courtesy trailer available.
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Food Waste
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Compost your unavoidable food scraps and green waste back into a reusable resources that will replenish your soil.
We fund the Dr Compost programme to help get you started. Local composting guru, Dr Compost, can help you discover which system could work best for you or help fine-tune your existing composting system.
You can get free advice from Dr Compost at events, workshops, or on Facebook. For more information visit the Dr Compost Facebook page or download the online resources here. You can also email your questions to:
drcompost@wanakawastebusters.co.nz
Subsidised Bokashi Bins
Subsidised Bokashi Bins can be purchased at Council offices or Wanaka Wastebusters.
They can be purchased as a single unit or in sets of two at cost price (maximum of four buckets per person/business).
Single unit price - $28 inclusive of GST
Set of two price - $56 inclusive of GST (normally $112.00)
(Each bucket receives a free bag of compost zing as part of the cost).Bags of compost zing can also be purchased at cost price of $6.00 per bag inclusive of GST.
Please note that the subsidised price only applies to Queenstown Lakes residents and you will be required to provide contact details/proof of address on purchase.
Subsidised Worms
If you're keen to try worm farming, we subsidise the purchase of worms.
- $30 for 1kg / approximately 4,000 worms (normally $55).
There is a $10.00 courier charge (extra for rural delivery).
To purchase the worms get in touch with Jacqui at Central Wormworx (2024) Ltd, Cromwell.
Phone 021 132 2964 or email:
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wormworx1@gmail.com -
New Zealand families waste about $644 each year on food which is thrown uneaten into the rubbish bin.This adds up to a staggering $1.17 billion for the whole country.
That’s 157,398 tonnes of edible food going to landfill and generating greenhouse gases.
We're proud to be part of the national Love Food Hate Waste NZ campaign which aims to turn this around, by inspiring and enabling people to waste less food.
For practical tips on how to reduce your own food waste and save money visit the Love Food Haste Waste website.
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Community Composting Project Hubs
To advance our strategic focus of diverting organic waste from landfill, Queenstown Lakes District Council secured co-funding from the Ministry for the Environment’s (MfE) Waste Minimisation Fund for the delivery of the Community Composting Project.
The focus of the project is to support the establishment of a network of Community Composting Hubs across the district, that will divert organic material, food scraps and garden waste, from landfill and turn it into a beneficial resource for use in community gardens, restoration projects, or to provide back to the community.
To date we have helped support four local community composting hubs via funding agreements - Grow Wanaka, Zero Waste Glenorchy, Waste to Wilderness and the Wanaka Community Composting and Worm Farm Project. Details on these hubs are as below.
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Grow Wānaka is a circular model community garden and composting project operating since 2020. They divert organic waste away from landfill by accepting food scraps and limited greenwaste to convert into compost. The compost is then used to collectively grow organic produce. The produce is then shared with the volunteer team and surplus is distributed to the community.
Learn more here: HOME | Grow Wanaka | Wānaka Community Garden
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Zero Waste Glenorchy operates a kerbside food scraps collection service for participating households and a drop off service for the local community, visitor and business sectors. The material received is processed into nutrient dense, beneficial compost material at the on-site composting facility. Participating households and businesses are able to receive the compost material for use in their garden and landscaping activities. The community hub also supplies compost to the Glenorchy Native Plant Nursery and the Headwaters for their on-site vegetable garden. The resulting produce is sold in the Mrs Woolly's General Store and used to showcase ‘garden to table’ produce at the Headwaters Lodge.
Learn more here: Zero Waste Glenorchy
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The Waste to Wilderness project model charges for collection of food waste from commercial customers, primarily tourism-related businesses, to divert the organics waste from landfill, and use it to produce compost for the community at no cost. This is a pilot project aiming to divert up to 50 tonnes of food waste each month, mixing it with an equal amount of mulched brown organics to activate the hot compost process within skips.
Check out this short video showing the Waste to Wilderness process: Turning Waste Into A Valuable Resource
Learn more here: WastetoWilderness | Facebook
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This project currently involves the collection of food waste from Wānaka busineses including Freshlink, Treble Cone, Dripping Bowl and local food truck operations. This food waste material is transported to Glendhu Station where it is composted for use on the station.
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