Wellington-based nonprofit Kaicycle welcomes the proposals to divert food waste from landfill released today by the Ministry for the Environment.

“Far too much organic material goes to landfill in NZ, producing methane and contributing to climate change. We can do so much more with this resource to help replenish our degrading soils, offset synthetic fertilisers and support more regenerative and urban agriculture to boost food security and adapt to climate change,” says Kaicycle Compost Manager Liam Prince.

“We broadly support the Government’s proposal to ‘phase in’ food waste collections and requirements for businesses to separate food waste. This will enable the best systems and infrastructure to be developed. It helps smaller operators like us to get ready to play our part without being swallowed up or steamrolled by big players.”

“Local-scale systems generate many benefits beyond diversion from landfill, like preventing wastage in the first place, creating more jobs, strengthening local economies, and increasing community resilience. If the focus is only on tonnage diverted at the expense of other outcomes, this could squash small operators out of the picture, with a high opportunity cost.”

“There’s a thriving network of local-scale composters and urban farmers across Aotearoa. We want to see this sector grow and help the country meet its waste and emissions reduction goals, while setting a foundation for long-term resilience.”

"We need to balance the urgency of the climate crisis and tackling landfill emissions with soil regeneration and building local food production and climate resilience into our systems. We think the Government’s proposals get this about right, although we would like to see more ambitious actions in future, like banning all organics from landfill while providing specific support for local communities to be part of the solution.

“We’re also glad to see that compostable products and packaging would be excluded from these collections. These products add nothing of value and may even add harmful chemicals to our compost. We also receive far too much food waste contaminated by non-compostable or non-certified packaging. We support the precautionary approach taken by Government that recognises the harms and risks of contaminating composts and soils, which is also reflected in their position statement on compostable products also released today.”

“As a member of the Zero Waste Network, we are also happy to see other opportunities in these proposals that could help local-scale community enterprises flourish, like a Container Return Scheme. Overall, these proposals signal a positive shift for waste and emissions reductions in Aotearoa. Communities and enterprises like ours all over the country are ready to play our part in making this a reality.”

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