QLDC gives $122,000 to waste minimisation projects

Thirteen community initiatives to reduce waste are set to benefit from about $122,000 of funding from the Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC).

Projects to receive funding include a bank of reusable nappies to be used by families in the Glenorchy area, and a pilot scheme by Wastebusters to rebrand and sell surplus uniforms.

The Wānaka Community Workshop Trust will receive money to buy another piece of machinery for its MenShed, as well as to set up the new Fabricate space where people can learn to repair, remake and create clothing and basic soft furnishings.

A past recipient, Wao, won a grant to continue its work encouraging a shift in behaviour in the construction and building sector towards a circular economy design and build model.

The money comes from the QLDC Waste Minimisation Community Fund, which was established in 2019 to increase the level of support for community-led waste minimisation initiatives that move us towards achieving our ambition to be a sustainable, zero-waste district.

“These are all community-led projects that meet the fund’s objectives to reduce waste at source or to reuse resources, thereby diverting waste from landfill,” QLDC General Manager Property and Infrastructure Pete Hansby said.

QLDC is delighted to also support a range of initiatives involving children and schools. The Wanda Foundation has been funded to stage 14 shows for children across the district featuring Waste Free Wanda. Other grants will be used for composting and recycling programmes in schools.

“It’s fantastic to see young people helping to drive positive change and taking that into their homes,” Mr Hansby said.

The Council received 21 applications totalling $250,971.27 and the total amount allocated was $122,069.60.

“Deciding where to allocate the money was tough this year, but it is inspiring to see so many great ideas for cutting waste coming from the community,” Mr Hansby said.

The successful applicants are:

• Glenorchy Reusable Nappy Bank

• Hāwea Flat School

• Lake Hayes A&P Society

• Mount Aspiring College

• Pinnacles Early Learning Centre, Wānaka

• Queenstown Harvest Community Gardens

• Wānaka Community Workshop Trust

• Wānaka Primary School

• Wanda Foundation

• Wao

• Wastebusters

Another funding round will be launched early in 2023.

ENDS|KUA MUTU.

Media contact: communications@qldc.govt.nz or call 03 441 1802.

FURTHER INFORMATION | Kā pāroko tāpiri:

The Waste Minimisation Community Fund is a contestable fund open to community groups, businesses, iwi/Māori organisations, educational institutions and other community-based organisations operating in the Queenstown Lakes District. This year we launched a double round of the Waste Minimisation Community Fund to help allocate funds within the correct financial year. (This won’t affect the timing of next year’s funding round, which will open in March/April 2023).

https://www.qldc.govt.nz/services/rubbish-recycling/waste-minimisation-community-fund

The following is a summary of the successful applications:

Glenorchy Reusable Nappy Bank

Establishing a reusable nappy bank within the Glenorchy community that can be rotated around new babies/young families within the community for years to come.

Hāwea Flat School, Repair and Reuse Space

Hāwea Flat School is looking to create a Repair and Reuse Space where students can repair, reuse, redesign, mend, invent and make toys, clothes, everyday items and bespoke resources.

Lake Hayes A&P Society

The Lake Hayes A&P Show is a popular community event that promotes the Queenstown Lakes District, supports local businesses and provides for a good day out with friends and family. The grant will help organisers include more sustainability initiatives and reduce waste produced by the show.

Mount Aspiring College, Composting Programme for Organic Waste

Following an audit undertaken by Team Green, MAC’s environmental group, and the school’s caretaker, the college is planning to implement an onsite composting system for discarded food waste from the canteen, the Food Tech department, the staffroom and the school grounds. The grant will help them with the infrastructure required.

Pinnacles Early Learning Centre, Garbage Guardians

Pinnacles Early Learning Centre hope to inspire their tamariki, whānau and wider community to be guardians of our planet through education around sustainable practices and waste management. Funding was provided for waste minimisation resources and education sessions with Wastebusters and Dr Compost.

Queenstown Harvest Community Gardens, Learn to Compost the Right Way

Queenstown Harvest Community gardens applied for funding to help improve existing compost bins, build a communal worm farm; and hold composting workshops to better educate members on how to compost well.

Wānaka Community Workshop Trust, Fabricate

This project will provide a space where people can learn to repair, remake and create clothing and basic soft furnishing items from a range of materials, focusing on using materials destined for landfill – in the process, learning skills from local community members with a view to deepening the community’s ability to self-sustain in areas of clothing and soft furnishings. These provisions combine to strengthen community networks while fostering sustainability and independence and increasing awareness of the concept of buying for longevity versus fast fashion.

Wānaka Community Workshop Trust, MenShed.

The WCW was developed as a community resource, where people can access the tools, materials and physical space necessary for building and repair projects without having to purchase or rent their own; and to create a space where people can learn new skills. Funding was provided to help purchase a planer thicknesser machine to add to the existing suite of machinery with the purpose of increasing membership, participation, capability, and waste diversion.

Wānaka Primary School, Outdoor Classroom

Wānaka Primary School applied for funding to support the establishment of a school-wide composting system and worm farm to divert organic waste from landfill.

Wanda Foundation, Waste Free Wanda

The Waste Free Wanda show is a proven method of meeting the Waste Education Curriculum of primary schools in Aotearoa, as well as supporting families to make a sustained and empowered shift around single-use plastic reduction. It provides easy-to-use tools that support positive environmental change around water and wildlife conservation, as well as offering an insight into how we view our waste on the planet, and how we can each take responsibility and be the change. Funding was provided to deliver 14 Waste Free Wanda shows across the QLDC region over 12 months.

Wao

The Better Building Circular Economy Education Programme, Digital, aims to shift behaviour in the construction and building sector towards a circular economy design and build model. It will build on the delivery of sector and district-specific workshops across the Wakatipu and Upper Clutha basins by providing digital educational materials in the form of educational videos that will be able to deliver the content of the workshops concerning construction waste reduction onsite. It will target three specific parts of the built environment cycle: the design, construction, and demolition phases. It will look at onsite management best practice and showcasing available reuse, recycling and exchange options in the district and provide the tools and resources for participants to take back to their workplace to implement.

Wastebusters, Event Recycling Signage and Bins Project

This project is aimed at providing educational signage to support the on-the-ground recycling service that Wastebusters provide at events both big and small. A combination of feather flags to assist attendees to identify the closest recycling bins, and educational signage at a recycling info hub, would help remove current barriers to effectively engaging with recycling and waste diversion at events. The project will also upgrade the current Wastebusters food waste diversion at events, by providing buckets with new 120-litre wheelie bins for use by back-of-house staff.

Wastebusters, Uniform Repurposing Pilot

The project aim is to set up a proof-of-concept scheme to rebrand and sell new and preloved uniforms from local businesses. The goal is to keep quality clothing out of landfill and provide an alternative to buying new, encouraging reuse and repurposing choices in the community. This pilot will repurpose items from a large stock of surplus uniforms due to rebranding by a major tourism operator. This will achieve substantial waste diversion. A “repurpose” logo will be developed. Paid sewers working in a community workspace will then rebrand the uniforms, covering the old company branding. The repurposed garments will be sold affordably at retail outlets and online.

Waste Minimisation Management Plan (2018): final-wmmp-2018.pdf (qldc.govt.nz)

Previous media releases:

2021: Waste minimisation projects given a $60,000 boost (qldc.govt.nz)

2020: 20 06 09 Waste Minimisation Fund winners announced (qldc.govt.nz)

2019: 19 05 28 Zero Waste initiative funding boost (qldc.govt.nz)