The Sawmill Brewery and Mahurangi Wastebusters are working together to help reduce waste from the brewery and make sustainability a local priority. Mahurangi Wastebuseters have been collecting the spent hops each week to put through the new composting system. 

In 2018, the Sawmill Brewery installed 54 solar panels to meet the bulk of their daytime energy needs. By working with Plasback, who collect all the incoming plastic shrink wrap, they have reduced their waste to landfill by over 85%. The kitchen waste is composted on-site. They collect over a million litres of water a year from their roof and all grey water is used on the farm as irrigation. They avoid the use of PVPP (microplastics) in fining the beer. Grain silos outside the building replace the use of over 12,000 plastic sacks of grain annually.

Not only that, they have now become New Zealand's first B-Corp certified brewery. B Corps™ lead the growing global movement of people using business as a force for good, aiming to have a positive impact on their team, their community, and the environment. Certified B Corporations are businesses that meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. 

Mahurangi Wastebusters have started composting local food and compostable waste at their community recycling centre in Lawrie Road, Snells Beach, turning it into beautiful compost which they will be selling soon. They now work with the Matakana Farmers Market, which has always been a zero waste market and were previously sending their compostables all the way down to Tuakau to be composted at Envirofert. Wastebusters are saving all that transport by doing it locally. Along with Sawmill Brewery’s hops, they are working with Daily Organics Kombucha factory, taking their tea. 

Composting is a super important part of the waste hierarchy. When food scraps go to landfill, methane is emitted as they break down, contributing to the climate crisis. However, composted materials hold greenhouse gases in the ground keeping them out of the atmosphere, and by using compost we replenish the soil with natural nutrients keeping it healthy and rich.