Kāpiti Food Fair biting into minimising event waste

With a key focus on sustainability, innovation and being an attractive community-based event, the Kāpiti Food Fair exists to showcase the best of food and beverage in New Zealand and aims to make a lasting impression in the minds and bodies of all foodies that attend.

Kāpiti Food Fair exists to showcase the best of food and beverage in New Zealand and aims to make a lasting impression in the minds and bodies of all foodies that attend.  The event draws food and beverage vendors from all around New Zealand.  The full day event hosts up to 250 sites and attracts 12,000+ local and nationwide visitors each year.

Kāpiti Food Fair is privately owned and operated in partnership by Helene Judge and Jeanine van Kradenburg.  As Co-owners they have several strategic outcomes, with a key focus on sustainability, innovation and being an attractive community-based event.  Helene Judge shares how it all began and their plan to minimise waste for the 2022 event.

We have radar for opportunities and improvement is always open and we knew waste for the Fair was an issue.  You would see us after the event picking up the last of the rubbish and making sure nothing was left at Mazengarb Reserve.  We knew there was an opportunity for us to separate the waste better.”

“We were lucky to connect with Organic Wealth and James explained a big event they supported in the city, and it sounded like an awesome result.  So, we joined in partnership and started on a plan that we have not looked back from.”

Organic Wealth is an organisation that supports events, businesses, schools and communities to improve their waste and recycling practices.  Providing waste minimisation management, they offer innovative programmes and waste services to help others to achieve sustainability goals.

Kāpiti Food Fair established a 5-year plan to improve waste management saying that incremental steps needed to be taken and importantly, to bring their vendors on the journey.

“We have an objective to reduce waste to landfill by 85% for 2022, the goal for our five-year waste minimisation strategy that started in 2019, is to divert up to 100% of waste progressively from landfill.  In order to achieve this, we are partnering with Organic Wealth.  Their team of waste minimisation experts train our volunteers and then work together to separate the waste generated by the Fair.  Then they create a waste diversion result and provide recommendations on how we can continue to improve for the future.”

“Communication and systems are essential for the Fair in achieving our waste targets.  We share key information with all parties involved in the event to ensure hassle free waste and recycling on the day.  Food and beverage vendors are asked to use compostable packaging for best practise and to comply with our Waste Minimisation standards.”

“Our initiatives include compostable packaging for all ready to eat food produced on the day, zero plastic containers for food, zero single use plastic, reusable bags, compostable drink containers and trained waste station educators as part of the event.”

“Our waste station educators help visitors to separate their waste into the right bins, offer facts about recycling and supporting them on their own composting and zero waste journeys.”

“We are proud of our waste busting efforts and thank everyone involved, including our vendors, for using compostable serving materials and disposing of waste correctly.”

“During and after the event, there is a Waste Depot that receives waste generated throughout the day for the Organic Wealth team to sort through into different categories, decontaminate all bags of recycling and composting, and set aside any unique materials and waste that will go to landfill.”

“The team is trained to sort through the waste with a ‘fine tooth comb’, to separate all materials and ensure zero contamination in the recycling and organic waste bags or bins.  They are very particular as Waste Management will reject any contaminated bins if the sorting is not done correctly, and it will be dumped into landfill which is not what we want to see happening.”

After the event a waste audit data report is produced that shows the weight of each waste stream (recycling, compost and landfill) and the waste diversion from landfill rates so organisers can measure results.  This knowledge supports recommendations for future events on how to support increased waste diversion.

Fair attendee results showed that visitors to the 2019 and 2020 event were impressed with the waste initiatives.  The Fair did not operate in 2021 due to Covid.

“After our first year we received amazing feedback - visitors were so positive about the waste program and the helpers at each waste station really elevated the experience with a human approach.”

Kāpiti Food Fair has grown significantly since it started as a humble community event in 2008, hitting the Top 20 NZ Food Festival List in 2016.

“As a commercial event, we are proud of our sustainability efforts to deliver the smallest footprint possible for a major event.”

“If you think about the place Kāpiti and why people come here - it’s for friends, family and nature - whether it be walking, biking, running, tramping or beach time.  People think about the outdoor experience here and we need to preserve it.  Every business, event and home need to look carefully at how we contribute to our nature thriving for the future.” says Helene.

Find out more about the Waste Minimisation Plan for the Kāpiti Food Fair here.