Another year, another WasteMinz conference
This year our team once again attended the annual WasteMinz conference, which was held in Christchurch’s stunning Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre.
For those unaware what this conference is about, it brings the Waste Sector together over a four day period to discuss some of the nation’s critical questions surrounding waste such as infrastructure, innovation, legislation and collaboration.
And while this is has become an annual event for our team, we are always grateful the opportunity to attend and continue learning and collaborating with our peers and industry leaders.
So what were the key takeaways?
- The Ministry for the Environment (MfE) went through a bit of an overhaul over the last several months
What does this mean exactly?
From our perspective and hearing the various MfE staff share their thoughts, it simply means doing the work with less resources.
And whilst this is not ideal, the determination and mindset of MfE is to continue to tackle some of the nations challenging waste needs despite less resources.
2. Collaboration is still key!
If you have been following our work, you will know that collaboration is a big part of our values and approach.
Being part of the WasteMinz conference not only solidified this point for us but really highlighted the reason why it is so important to collaborate.
For example, we believe worthy causes and positive change requires collaboration in order to make it happen. This was true when the team heard about the great example presented by Louise Nash CEO of Circularity NZ and Sustainability Packaging Manager Debra Goulding from Foodstuffs NZ on reusable packaging.
Or as Michael Basagre highlighted from Louise Nash in his post “Collaboration moves at the speed of trust”
And we couldn’t agree more!
3. Update on Construction and Demolition Waste
Not sure if the timing of this update was designed to be shared at the WasteMinz conference, but regardless, the MfE shared the first base-line report on Construction and Demolition waste which was commissioned by Beca and published on MfE website the week of the conference.
Whilst the initial summary on MfE website shares the following statement;
“..the report was able to quantify the scale of C&D waste disposal at a national level. The report’s C&D waste disposal findings focus on Class 1–4 disposal facilities. The report provides estimated annual tonnages and composition breakdowns for C&D waste going into each class of facility”
It also follows that statement by sharing;
“…the report presents several recommendations for increasing the scale and accuracy of C&D waste data reporting.”
To read the full report and statements see the link below.
So was it worth it?
That’s often a question we get asked and to be fair we should be asking ourselves.
The short answer is yes!
The long answer is also yes, but only if you intend to participate and take action, and this goes for any conference you go to.
For us, it is worth it because of some of the points we highlighted in this blog. However we also know it can be challenging to get to these, and I guess part of our ethos and “taking action” is to share our thoughts or any insights we feel can lead to a positive impact.