Our Vision for a Zero Waste Future

While the team at Res.Awesome has a long list of goals to achieve that will benefit our community, the main objective involves seeing Dunedin become a Zero Waste city. We thought it was about time that we share our vision for a Zero Waste Future, so here we go!

First let’s explore the current landscape of waste management. There are many ways in which the current system is failing us. “Managing” our waste often means we spend more money and time on waste disposal systems which simply reinforce our dependence on rubbish production. The lifecycle of most products traditionally follows a linear process which goes a little something like this: Natural resource → take → make → dispose. While operating under this system for many years, our waste problem has spiralled out of control and we have strained many of our finite resources.

We need a collective perspective shift if we are to show a concerted effort in radically changing our behaviour. This needs to happen at a government, industrial and community level. Put more simply, we need to take action! To achieve this goal, we must have a clear idea of what we are working towards. It’s all well and good knowing that the current system isn’t working and needs to be ditched; but what the heck do we replace it with?

The team at Res.Awesome stand as part of a growing list of Zero Waste advocates who want to build a circular waste economy. Again, this will entail a major perspective shift; looking at our resources differently, redesigning supply/demand chains and allowing nothing to be seen as waste. A circular waste economy is a regenerative, enriching and economically advantageous way of existing on earth. It just makes sense! After all, it is what nature would do!

We want to see our communities activated and engaged, whether this means putting pressure on our local council when it comes to building zero waste infrastructure or simply holding a meeting in your local neighbourhood. We believe that the wider Otepoti community wants to see our shared resources being utilised to their maximum potential with waste being diverted from landfill.

The team at Res.Awesome envisions a future where every individual community around Dunedin has its own community hub dedicated to resource recovery, reuse, repair, recycling and connection; nothing gets thrown away. This model would give the power back to the people and allow us all to spend less money on new items and have the pleasure of seeing our unwanted goods swapped or gifted to those in need. Clearing out the home and culling items you just don’t need or use anymore feels so good - imagine how much better it would feel if you could rely on those items being reused; rather than just being out of sight, out of mind.

These community spaces would allow us to sort through properly organised materials and not restrict us to the recycling of only paper, cardboard, metal, glass and some plastics. We envision around forty categories of materials could be collected, sorted, cleaned and redistributed one way or another. Each of these hubs should have composting sites too, with opportunities to learn about and enact the regeneration of healthy soil and local gardens. The potential for local community gardens is limitless! 

Organisational sorting systems and collection depots will bring our communities together. Broken items in need of repair can build new relationships throughout our communities; learning from one another and adding skills to your toolkit. This plan puts the power back into the hands of the people and ensures each community thrives together.

It is important for these hubs to be easy-access so we are not excluding those without mechanical transportation. We can incentivise better resource management by ensuring our community hubs are available to all while reducing gas emissions from petrol vehicles. Win-win!

Our vision for Smart Connected Cities would involve a major Central City Resource Recovery Centre which would take over the sorting and redistribution of resources from local businesses. It would then feed valuable resources back to schools, community groups and whanau. There would be a ● Resource Recovery Shop ● Remakery/Repair cafe ● Tool library - where you can hire equipment ● Pickup/delivery

If we are to live a sustainable life, it makes sense to redistribute our reusable resources throughout our communities and create connections while we are at it. The goal would be to have a hub in every community and share resources around the city. Creating resource networks is the basis for robust circularity and we would love to see Dunedin get on board with what we think is a pretty amazing way to live.

In Dunedin we have seen a few recycling hubs pop up around our city, which is a great idea to keep our recycling rates up. However, we believe that we can go a step further than that and have a more regenerative approach. We are stoked to see the community engagement in these recycling hubs as we know this is the idea we have been sold if we want to be considered a tidy kiwi. But if we want to pursue a zero waste future we must dream a little bigger. These recycling hubs could be turned into full-blown resource recovery hubs in the pursuit of a clean, green future. 

Recycling is an end of the line solution that often causes more problems than it fixes.  Recycling is only one component of the zero waste hierarchy and is not necessarily something that needs to be implemented around the community. NZ is unable to process around 50% of our recycling, with much of it being shipped around the world and processed in unregulated ways that cause damage to local iwi. Don’t get us wrong, recycling is great as part of a wider solution and when used as a necessary part of resource management - but we simply cannot rely on it if we want to reach our zero waste goals.

The way forward will require action from the council and Res.Awesome want to help with that. We want to see the DCC engaging with and activating local communities while supporting zero waste projects financially. Local waste warriors may even consider taking some time to approach the council to express their keen interest in initiating tangible resource recovery strategies. Many communities are waiting for the Council to speed up their Zero Waste Plan and Res.Awesome are still very optimistic that Otepoti can reach our goal of becoming a Zero Waste City by 2030!

The desire to build local capabilities via waste minimisation grants has been expressed by the Council and we are excited to see the amazing impact this could have. We will need significant infrastructure and the creation of new jobs if we are to tackle our waste stream. To quote the DCC’s Waste Minimisation and Management Plan of 2020 “The Plan is supportive of a collaborative approach which will strengthen working relationships. The position taken understands that, to achieve zero waste, all factions must work together purposefully.” We hope by sharing our vision for a Zero Waste future the team at Res.Awesome can inspire some change in our current strategies. Zero Waste does not mean going without or recycling everything we can - it looks like giving our communities autonomy and access to better, cheaper resources. It looks and feels like every person having the ability to participate in fun and regenerative activities; teaching, learning, sharing and growing together.

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Researched + written by Erin Cox

Edited by Fi Clements