Ōmarunui Landfill’s new waste education centre

The new waste education centre unveiled at Ōmarunui Landfill.

While tours at the Ōmarunui Landfill are not a new idea, the waste education centre is.

Over the years the landfill tours were often challenged by bad weather and had no space to have quality conversations and answer questions raised and both the Hastings District Council and Napier City Council decided there was a need for a new learning space.

The new waste education centre was partly constructed with reclaimed materials that were destined for landfill and will be a dedicated space for people to learn about what happens to waste, and how to minimise it.

Ngāti Pārau kaumātua Tamati Cairns officially named the building “Te Whare Mukupara” after it was officially completed, and a karakia was conducted by members of Ngāti Pārau at the end of September.

The Ōmarunui Landfill education building was named Te Whare Mukupara at a blessing after completion in September.

Behind the name, “Te Whare Mukupara” translates as “Te Whare”, the house, as the space will house visitors, groups and schools during their visit to the education building with manaakitanga and care; “Muku” means delete, cease, or minimise, which aligns with the purpose of the building and education programmes around sharing knowledge on how to minimise waste’ and “para” means rubbish or waste.

Hastings district councillor and chairwoman of Hastings and Napier’s Ōmarunui Refuse Landfill Joint Committee Ann Redstone said Te Whare Mukupara is a valuable addition to the ongoing waste minimisation work being done by both councils.

With extensive community consultation with the community on the Joint Waste Management and Minimisation Plan 2018-2024, education about minimising waste was identified as an important tool to help keep as much waste out of landfills as possible.

“Having this building gives us a dedicated space to help educate and improve community awareness of all the products that can be reused or recycled and ways that can be done,” Redstone said.

City councillor and Joint Waste Futures Committee chairwoman Hayley Browne believes Te Whare Mukupara will completely change the experience of visiting the landfill.

“Together we need to raise awareness of ways to divert from landfill, including thinking about what we buy through to how we dispose of things at the end of their life,” Browne said.

The Napier councillor added: “We want to empower our communities, and those who work in the waste space, to minimise waste and maximise their use of resources. As a region, our vision is to work towards zero waste using a whole suite of tools. Education is at the heart of that.”

The new education building will not just be limited to tours. The councils plan to also use it for events and educational workshops through their waste minimisation teams, and community initiatives.

Hastings District Council and Napier City Council are developing a joint waste education programme that will be available to schools in Hastings and Napier, and anticipate the programme will be ready to begin next year.