Supporting Taranaki’s Waste Audit

Our staff is shocked by what items they discovered in household rubbish collected from across Taranaki. 

Over three days, four team members participated in the region’s waste audit that sampled rubbish from 175 residential bins and 30 public bins. 

The most disappointing discovery was half of Taranaki’s rubbish destined for the landfill was food scraps. The NPDC introduced food scrap bins over two years ago in November 2019.

“It was a real eye-opener to see the amount of kitchen scraps that are being dumped in landfill,” says Sustainable Taranaki Compost Co-Ordinator Mieke Verschoor. 

“It’s an unbelievable waste as kai can be easily composted. We can do better than that!” 

The rubbish was transferred into bags before being taken to a New Plymouth facility where it was weighed and sorted into 23 different categories.  The audit happens every six years as part of three Taranaki District Council’s waste management and minimisation plans.

“To find glass, jewellery, new socks, backpacks, batteries, and vacuum cleaners in the rubbish was surprising. So much stuff could be re-used or repurposed if taken to an op-shop,” says Mieke. 

If you're keen to learn how to compost or host a workshop then we’d love to hear from you.