Waste Minimisation Updates
Rangitīkei District Council is proud to be associated with several waste minimisation initiatives in the district.
Here's what our community is doing to help:
Paper4Trees
Rangitīkei District Council is proud to sponsor Paper4Trees - Pepa Mō Ngā Rākau.
Paper4Trees is a waste minimisation and tree planting programme for New Zealand schools and preschools.
The programme encourages schools to recycle their paper and cardboard. As an incentive to divert as much paper and cardboard from landfill as possible, Paper4Trees reward each school with one native tree/plant for every two cubic metres of paper and cardboard recycled.
Our district currently has 26 schools registered in the programme.
In 2025 our local schools:
- Recycled 35 tonnes of paper and cardboard
- Planted 189 plants
- Not produces 189 tonnes of CO2 in landfills
- Saved 280 m3 of landfill space
Paper4Trees Annual Report 2024/2025 Summary
Congratulations to our participating schools!
Revisiting Waste Cluster Hui
Marton Junction Community Preschool was the location for the Enviroschools early childhood education revisiting waste cluster hui.
It was a chance to unpack the Enviroschools zero waste theme area booklet which is a great resource to find cool ideas and activities when talking to tamariki about sustainable learning. The group explored the 3R’s (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) and then they mapped each Enviroschools waste at their respective centres.
The best part about the hui was about making connections with others, sharing resources, and hearing about what others are currently doing.
Rangitīkei College students with their Pledge Wall
Rangitīkei College Green Week Participation
Green Week 2025 was a new initiative led by two Horowhenua College student Envirogroup leaders. Enviroschools across the Horizons region could sign up to take part in a week-long competition to complete a range of sustainability themed activities suitable for both primary and secondary schools, with a points system for each activity that generated some healthy competition. The response was overwhelming with 1,700 students from 10 Enviroschool from across the region taking part.
A bingo card with 25 mystery activities was to be completed in the week, however it was only issued to participating schools the night before Green Week started so there could be no pre-planning. Different activities earned different points. Students submitted photos, reels, social media posts and emails as evidence of completion of the activities.
Rangitīkei College were eager to take up the challenge with support from teachers. Challenges ranged from collecting food scraps, which was an easy win for the students as this initiative had already been implemented last year, to designing a poster to reduce electricity usage, planting veges in school gardens, creating rubbish artwork, and making a pledge to act for the environment.
The end of Green Week was celebrated with a well-attended, hugely successful and student-led awards ceremony at Horowhenua College which was attended by students from the college. Ramneek Kamboi won the leadership award with Olivia Ward who is the college’s sustainability prefect, winning a prize for recruitment. Next year, the school hopes to take part in Green Week 2026.