The Mahurangi Wastebusters have been doing great work over the last three years, and are are continuing to fight for sustainability by diverting hundreds of tonnes of waste from landfill and educating the community on waste minimisation and recycling initiatives. 

Over the weekend, Wastebusters attended the Warkworth A&P show to help keep the amount of waste generated by the event out of landfill. Events like festivals or shows are notoriously hard for keeping waste low, but the Mahurangi Wastebusters managed to divert 74.7% of the show's rubbish from landfill. 

Of that, nearly 60% was food scraps and compostable coffee cups, cardboard plates and serveware, which will all go into the compost bins at the Lawrie Road recycling centre. In about three months it will come out the other end as compost! 

Another 16% was recycling (cans, bottles, etc). 

Wastebusters also have some tips on how to reduce your families waste this easter weekend:

• Buy Easter goodies and ingredients from bulk bin or zero waste shops to reduce packaging
• Make your own Easter chocolate, buns and biscuits
• Use decorated stones for Easter Egg hunts and have one yummy prize at the end 
• Decorate real free-range hard-boiled eggs with natural plant dyes (tumeric, beetroot, spinach, red cabbage) so they can be safely eaten
• Collect clean tin foil wrappers and squash them together in the shape and size of a tennis ball for recycling (Note: small bits of foil cannot be picked up by recycling machines)
• Sew fabric bunnies from secondhand fabric scraps
• Give experience gifts like movie tickets, a boat ride, a horse riding lesson or a night walk to see the kiwi at Tawharanui Regional Park
• Re-gift something you don't want or need.

Mahurangi Wastebusters is a fantastic organisation, full of helpful information on how you can minimise waste at home, and how to correctly dispose of items in ways that are best for the environment.