Wānaka celebrated “50 years” of Wastebusters on Saturday (September 20) by marking 25 years in operation and looking ahead another 25 years.

Wastebusters general manager Gina Dempster said the organisation was taking “the bold step to create a home” for its work for the next 25 with ‘Wastebusters 2.0’ - a rebuild and expansion of its current facilities.

That step was supported by Queenstown Lakes District Council’s (QLDC) commitment to provide Wastebusters with additional land for expansion at Ballantyne Road.

QLDC mayor Glyn Lewers formally presented a letter of intent to Wastebusters at the 25th birthday celebrations, which outlined council’s commitment to providing access to additional land through the existing lease. 

“QLDC purchased this block with future waste management activities in mind, and is both supportive and enthusiastic about Wastebusters expanding their operations on the site alongside QLDC’s activities,” the letter said.

The letter of intent enables Wastebusters to seek funding from the Ministry for the Environment’s (MfE) Waste Minimisation Fund to develop the next generation ‘Wastebusters 2.0 Circular Economy Hub’ at the Ballantyne Road site - which currently also houses the Wānaka Transfer Station.

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Gina said council’s commitment was “great timing so we could celebrate the past 25 years, and the next 25 years to come at the same time”.

“It is an amazing opportunity for us as a community to create a flagship zero waste hub, which will be a destination and inspiration for our community and our visitors for years to come.”

Wastebusters co-founder Rachel Brown speaking at the birthday celebration.

She said the precinct will be designed to reduce waste as much as possible - “so it will be normal to reuse and recycle everything you can, before dropping the remainder to the transfer station”.

“It will offer more ways to reduce waste - targeting especially building waste and food waste, as well as more space for reuse. We want to make creators and makers part of Wastebusters’ site so that it’s normal to repair and upcycle.”

She said the new hub will have spaces for “community connection and gathering - maybe coffee every day, not just on Sundays”, and “a dedicated education space so we can do a lot more of our education work onsite, both with school students and adults”.

The birthday celebrations took place on Saturday.

QLDC’s letter of intent said the final timing, size, and location of available land would depend on the design of the new refuse transfer station and decisions around a potential future Material Recovery Facility (MRF) on the site. 

“Based on the information currently available we are confident that there is capacity within the site to address the needs of both organisations,” it said.

PHOTOS: Orla O Muiri