Raglan Resource Recovery Centre
Raglan
Raglan Resource Recovery Centre
Making moves for a sustainable and circular economy
Each year, the Waikato district, like many around Aotearoa, produces significant volumes of waste, with households contributing approximately 130 kg of waste to landfills annually. Enter the team at Raglan’s Resource Recovery Centre, who are making significant steps to reduce waste for a more sustainable future.
Established in 2000, Raglan Resource Recovery Centre (RRRC) has been a leader of Waikato district sustainability initiatives, aiming to educate and encourage the community to reduce and reuse. The centre is creating a circular economy through its resource recovery programs to help progress outputs towards zero waste.
The road to a circular economy
The journey toward resource recovery in Raglan began in the 1950s with a landfill on Te Hutewai Road. By the late 1990s, this evolved into a community-driven waste management initiative supported by local groups like the Whakanaua-te-Aio Trust.
In 2000, Xtreme Zero Waste took over operations, transforming the site into the Raglan Resource Recovery Centre we know today.
Since then, the centre has played a crucial role in helping the Waikato district reduce its waste footprint, with an impressive 78% of waste now diverted from landfills.
In the last year alone, RRRC diverted over 14,000 cubic meters of waste from landfills and returned more than $1.64 million in value to the community
A bustling hub of activity for locals and visitors
The RRRC offers a wide range of services that help keep valuable materials in circulation and out of landfills. They truly embody the phrase - “one man's trash is another man's treasure.”
From Kāhu’s Nest, a popular second-hand store for household goods and DIY materials, to the Organics Yard, which processes 250 tonnes of organic waste into compost each year, the centre is a go-to hub for the community and tourists as they head out to Raglan’s hot spots – beaches and surfing locations.
Introduced in 2017, the food scrap kerbside collection service was the first of its kind in New Zealand. This standout initiative allows local households to separate food scraps for composting, transforming what was once considered waste into valuable resources. This not only supports gardening enthusiasts but also puts nutritious meals on tables at a low cost.
This service, alongside garden waste collection, skip bin hire and rural recycling depots, provides locals with a range of options for responsible waste management.
A community all-in for recovery
By managing recycling services locally, RRRC supports local employment and meaningful training opportunities by hiring over 40 locals. The centre supports career development through training and certifications such as first aid, driver’s licenses, and other valuable qualifications, helping to build a skilled workforce in the Waikato district.
As a hub of community activity, the RRRC brings together many local members and young people with access to their first jobs and hands-on experience in environmental sustainability. This workforce development contributes to the local economy by creating a cycle of skilled, employable individuals who are well-equipped to contribute to other sectors of the region.
Education extends beyond the walls and crew of the RRRC to benefit the wider community. Initiatives are in place to teach community members how to sort materials, ensuring that only clean and properly separated recyclables are placed at the curbside. Additionally, waste audits and behaviour change programs have been established, focusing on strategies that prevent and reduce waste generation.
Supporting the business community
Through initiatives like the Business Collections Hub, which was introduced in 2023, RRRC helps drive traffic to local businesses when they opt to be a collection point and also encourages the wider community to get behind their mission.
In return, this project is optimising waste collection routes for RRRC and has proven successful. The portal has reduced road time by 50% and cut staff time by 80%, directly increasing the impact of the centre's staff to use resources in more beneficial places and increase the economic value contributed to the district. This kind of efficiency reduces the environmental footprint created by collecting individual household waste.
Looking ahead: A world without waste and a thriving district
RRRC continues to push the boundaries of what can be achieved through community-led sustainability. Its collaboration with external partners is an example of how they are scaling their efforts and furthering their initiatives out of the district.
Expanding their resource recovery centres to another 21 across Auckland and partnering with Whaaingaroa Environment Centre to broaden their ability to engage with the growing community through waste-related programmes are great steps towards their ongoing success.
Despite huge amounts of household waste and population growth, there has been a decrease in the amount of waste disposed of since 2021. Raglan Resource Recovery Centre is showing no signs of slowing down with its continued efforts to achieve the overarching goal of achieving zero waste and inspiring communities to act.
With continued growth, new partnerships, and expanded services, the RRRC is bound to increase their impact in driving a sustainable and thriving district.
