Waste Minimisation

We are aiming for Zero Waste!

There is a long tradition of working towards making Newtown Festival a Zero Waste event, and minimising the need for rubbish to go to the landfill is a core Festival Policy. Our long-running award-winning Zero Waste Programme at Newtown Festival is now led by the team at NonStop Solutions, who also work assisting other festivals and events throughout the Wellington region to reduce their waste.

Packaging must be Zero Waste compliant:

All stallholders are asked to use reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging. No single use plastics please!

Vendor waste

No rubbish bags, boxes etc are to be left behind when you pack up. Stallholders need to take their own discarded items and other waste home at the end of the day, leaving their stall site clean and tidy!

FOOD AND BEVERAGE STALLS MUST USE  REUSABLE, LOCALLY COMPOSTABLE, OR RECYCLABLE PACKAGING TO SERVE YOUR FOOD AND DRINK.

‘Locally compostable’ means the packaging is accepted by Wellington City Council’s Capital Compost facility. Here are the WCC Event Packaging Guidelines describing the sort of products Capital Compost will accept, which are the ones that need to be used to use at Newtown Festival and at other Wellington events. Locally compostable containers, plates, cutlery, napkins and paper bags are required.

Biochoice, Biopak, Ecoware, Friendlypak, GreenChoice, and Innocent Packaging are approved suppliers who sell compostable products. But take note –  not all the products sold by these companies are acceptable at Capital Compost – the Wellington composting facility.

Juice and similar drinks can be served in Pet 1 plastic cups, they are rinsed and recycled. Please encourage customers to use keep cups for coffee.

Paper bags and napkins should be natural/kraft coloured. Any printing must use non-toxic, eg soy or water based, inks.

Do not use plastic of any sort to serve food – when recyclable plastic is dirty it needs to go in the rubbish. And don’t use plant based plastics eg PLA even if the products are sold as compostable – they can’t be composted locally and they have to go to the landfill. Compostable/biodegradable/cornstarch bags and other plastic bags are also off limits.

Thank you:

At the Festival please remember to also encourage your customers to use the Festival’s award winning recycling and compost stations.  It sounds simple, but your encouragement as you serve your delicious food really makes a difference!