Reduce waste for business and industry

There’s an increasing appetite for businesses to be more sustainable and to incorporate new ideas, such as circular economy, into their business as usual. This can come from a variety of sources, from growing consumer expectations and new government legislation to internal corporate aspirations. Reducing waste from business processes also makes good environmental and commercial sense, providing new efficiencies and potentially broadening your market appeal.

On this page:

Key drivers •
What's in it for my business? •
How to decrease business waste

Key drivers

Consumer opinion drives purchasing choices, and waste now ranks among consumers’ top concerns. A 2022 study showed three of New Zealanders’ top 10 issues were with waste, namely:
- the build-up of plastic in the environment
- too much rubbish
- overpackaging, non-recyclables and landfill.
Central and local government are leading changes such as product stewardship schemes, organic waste diversion from landfill, increased waste levy charges and greenhouse gas emissions reduction. Find out more about government waste reduction initiatives.
Many businesses are leading waste reduction changes. Instead of seeing waste reduction as a problem, they see it as an opportunity – to tell good stories about their business, to appeal to a wider customer base, and to future-proof their operations. Materials once considered waste are now increasingly being seen as valuable resources with their own growing commercial niches. Find out more about the untapped profit potential in our region’s progress towards a circular economy.

What's in it for my business?

Embracing circular economy can:

create cost savings through the innovative repurposing materials traditionally seen as waste
reduce exposure to supply chain disruption and price volatility
improve perceptions of your brand in both the business to customer and business to business spheres
put your business on the front-foot to seize the growing commercial opportunities in the necessary shift towards greater sustainability, ahead of your competitors.

How to decrease business waste

Waste can be generated through the way you work (office waste, lunchroom waste etc.) and the way your product or service is created or delivered. It can occur at multiple points in the value chain, from the manufacturing process to what happens to the product when your customers have used it. Closed-loop packaging, for example, taps into the commercial opportunity in recovering and reusing resources to minimise production costs.

Here are some ideas to help your business take advantage of the opportunities in our accelerating transition towards greater sustainability.

Adopt the principles of circular economy

Design new products that create no waste, need no packaging, and are made from quality materials. Find out more about circular economy from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.

Waste audit

The best thing to do to help reduce waste is a waste audit, because you need to understand the waste you’re creating before you can make a plan to tackle it.

Food

Businesses generate 25 per cent of all food waste that goes to landfill, equating to over 75,000 tonnes per year. Find out more about reducing food waste.

The Ministry for Primary Industries provides some good tips for reducing food waste, tailored to those in the catering industry.

Office waste

Find out more about reducing office waste from the Sustainable Business Network.

Benefits of waste reduction

Find out more about how to make your business or workplace more sustainable.

Case studies

Find out about what local business are doing in the Waipā district and beyond.

Find support

Many other government and private organisations support business waste reduction, such as: