Mahurangi Wastebusters was established in 2017 in response to increasing demand from north Rodney locals wanting alternatives to sending their waste to landfill. They were frustrated at the negative impact waste was having on our environment.
As a charitable trust led by volunteers, we started out small offering waste minimisation activities, events and workshops, which received huge community support.
In December 2018, our Trust entered into a joint venture with Localised Limited, a social enterprise owned by the Zero Waste Network, to establish Mahurangi Wastebusters Ltd.
This enabled us to tender for a contract with Auckland Council to run transitional waste and resource recovery services at the Lawrie Road and Rustybrook Road sites.
We were awarded the contract in May 2019, and took over responsibility for the sites on 1 July 2019.
Mahurangi Wastebusters Ltd is a community enterprise. Like all businesses, we have skilled personnel, policies and processes in place to capitalise on opportunities and manage risks, but there are no private shareholders.
This means all profits go back into providing services that benefit the community and the environment.
We have a robust operating model based on organisations that have been successfully running recycling centres in Auckland and around the country including Wanaka and Raglan, which have been operating for nearly 20 years.
We have partnered with a number of businesses that enable us to recycle a wide range of materials ethically and sustainably. These include:
The Little Digger Company are huge supporters of our community owned business providing our most important piece of equipment - our digger!
Pink Bins to provide cartage and disposal services, green waste processing into compost, and timber processing recovery as a fuel source for cement works
Reclaim to provide recyclable commodities collection and processing for wholesale markets
We are delighted to be working with these companies as well as Ngati Manuhiri, other community organisations and local businesses to lead the way to zero waste.