Waste Minimisation Fund
Funding round dates
Applications for the next round of funding for the Waste Minimisation Fund will open again from 1 to 30 September 2026, with decisions made in November. Further details are available in our funding portal.
Have questions? Email us at funding@taupo.govt.nz.
Fund purpose
The purpose of the Taupō District Council Waste Minimisation Fund Grant is to provide individuals, community groups and organisations with the the opportunity to fund initiatives that:
- Reduce the generation of waste
- Encourage the reuse and recovery of materials
- Divert waste from landfill through reuse, repair, recycling, and composting
- Raise awareness of issues around food waste, single-use plastics, and other wastes
Funding and availability
Grants are available for up to $2,000 from an annual contestable fund of $10,000. The funding comes from the national waste levy, which is set by the Ministry for the Environment (MFE).
Please be aware Taupō District Council reserves the right to grant successful applicants funding that is different to the amount requested, and consideration of all applications will be dependent upon available funding.
Eligibility
To apply you must be an individual, school, business, iwi/Māori group, community group, early childhood centre, or other community-based organisation within the Taupō District.
- Projects must be based within the Taupō District and mainly benefit the Taupō community.
- Projects must contribute to waste minimisation, waste avoidance, the reduction of waste to landfill, and/or the recovery of materials or energy.
- Applicants must demonstrate sound financial responsibility, clear objectives and planning, ways of measuring performance and the success of the project, and reporting this progress.
- The funding granted must be used within one year to see the project to completion or until the project becomes self-funding.
- Eligibility for funding will be discretionary to the Taupō District Council and decisions will be final.
- If you have been allocated funding, you must read and sign the Terms and Conditions.
What we won’t fund
- Litter pick-ups or materials (please email wasteminimisation@taupo.govt.nz if you would like to borrow these materials).
- Waste disposal services.
- Projects that do not deal with the minimisation of waste produced within the Taupō District.
- Operating costs or projects that are ongoing.
- Projects that are already existing or completed.
- Projects that do not align with the key issues identified in the Taupō District Council Waste Management and Minimisation Plan.
- Individuals funding private projects.
Review process and timeline
Applications will be reviewed by a panel of Council staff who will assess the most eligible applications according to the following hierarchy:
- Addressing a key issue or issues, as identified in the TDC Waste Management and Minimisation Plan (see details in drop-down section below)
- Waste minimisation and reduction projects
- Waste reuse projects
- Recycling projects
- Recovery of waste resource projects
- We will endeavor to respond within one month from date of application.
Please note that successful applicants must submit a final written report within one year of funding being allocated.
Key issues identified in our Waste Management and Minimisation Plan
Construction and demolition waste
There is an opportunity for Council to work with the building, construction and demolition sector to further reduce this waste stream. Council will look to support diversion at the building sites as well as providing additional diversion options at our waste facilities.
Reduce, reuse and repair initiatives
Council supports initiatives which encourages the reuse and repair of items to prevent them from going to landfill. This may include repair cafés and co-operatives, which are free meeting places where staff or volunteers with specialist repair skills can assist or teach visitors with broken items. This creates opportunities for people from different cultures and generations to meet, learn, share skills and build relationships, as well as keeping products in use longer before disposal at a landfill.
Investigate and support district food rescue programmes
Some communities have food rescue programmes working in their district which take excess food in the community and distribute it to agencies and charities. These programmes may have broader benefits such as community building and resilience, sustainability education, intergenerational knowledge exchange and physical and mental wellbeing. Council will look to investigate and support community led food rescue programmes in the district.
Reduction of use of single use coffee cups and other items
Single use coffee cups and other single-use takeaway packaging make up a large portion of the contamination in our street recycling bins and also a large proportion of the waste volume in our street litter bins. Council would like to support the reduction of single use items being landfilled.
Past funding recipients
For more information about past recipients of our waste minimisation fund - and some ideas on how funds can be used - take a look at our featured stories, with a full list of past recipients shown below.
Lake Taupō Cycle Challenge have waste management practices tied down
Cycle Challenge used part of a Waste Minimisation Fund Grant to purchase reusable bungee toggle ties, in place of plastic cable ties, for their November 2022 event.
Taupō trials free child car seat recycling programme
Residents in Taupō with expired or damaged child car seats can now recycle them for free, thanks to a trial collection site for national child car seat recycling programme SeatSmart.
A worm welcome for waste grants funding at local motel
Guests staying at Taupō motel Bella Vista are helping keep some of the motel’s permanent residents well-fed, thanks to a grant from Taupō District Council.
2026 funding recipients
Funding recipients March/April 2026
| Applicant | Purpose | Allocation |
| Waitahanui Marae Trust | To introduce a structured waste management system at the marae. | $2,000.00 |
| Taupō Community Gardens | To deliver a series of low-cost and free workshops focused on practical, hands-on education to reduce food waste in the community. | $2,000.00 |
| Tirohanga School | To build a wormfarm using an old bathtub. | $355.00 |
| Pregnancy Help Taupō | To purchase and distribute reusable period and postpartum underwear to wāhine across Taupō District, including rural and underserved communities such as Tūrangi and Mangakino. | $2,000.00 |
| Tongariro National Trout Centre | To repair and reinstate the Tongariro National Trout Centre’s aquaponics system, which was recently damaged when the tank cracked. The system captures nutrient-rich fish waste and recycles it to support plant growth, reducing waste and reliance on external inputs. | $2,000.00 |
| Taupō Marist Rugby Club Incorporated | To reduce the amount of strapping tape being used for players by purchasing "lifting blocks" to use in training sessions. | $500.00 |
2025 funding recipients
March 2025
Applicant | Purpose |
Mangakino School | Set up a worm farm system for their school mara kai. |
Marotiri School | Signage for school recycling centre. |
Taupō Primary | Set up a worm farm system for their school mara kai. |
Global Games | Introduction of a reusable cup initiative at the GG Junior Rugby Festival. |
Waipahihi-a-Tia | Introduction of a reusable cup initiative at the Waipahihi School coffee shop. |
2024 funding recipients
September 2024
Applicant | Purpose |
Taupō Community Garden | Initiate composting bucket exchange programme, turning community food scraps into compost. |
Awhina Society Trust | Compost bins for Waiora House and the Taupō Community Foodbank. |
Tutetawha Marae | Set up a worm farm system at the marae. |
March 2024
Applicant | Purpose |
Pregnancy Help | Purchasing reusable menstrual products to provide to their clientele to replace single-use products. |
Mangakino Charitable Trust | New clothing racks to expand sales of secondhand clothing at the This & That Community Resale Shop. |
Tirohanga School | Improve school recycling centre with signage and waste audit materials. |
Towncentre Taupō | Recycle spray paint canisters used by Graffiato artists. |
2023 funding recipients
September 2023
Applicant | Purpose |
|---|---|
Town Centre Taupo | Recycle spray paint canisters used by Graffiato artists. |
Waipāhīhī-a-Tia School | Can-o-Worm worm farms to increase food waste diversion at school. |
Footprint Ltd | A feasibility study to roll out a food rescue app programme for Taupō cafes and restaurants. |
February 2023
Applicant | Purpose |
|---|---|
Hilltop School | Implement food scrap collection bins and a compost bin on school grounds |
Pregnancy Help | Purchasing reusable menstrual products to provide to their clientele to replace single-use products. |
2022 funding recipients
September 2022
Applicant | Purpose |
|---|---|
Town Centre Taupō | Recycle spray paint canisters used by Graffiato artists. |
Waste Wizards | Implement a reusable coffee cup borrowing scheme at two trial cafes within Taupo. |
Tauhara College | Purchasing wheelie bins to create bin stations around the schoolgrounds to increase recycling. |
Taupō-nui-a-Tia | Purchasing wheelie bins to create bin stations around the schoolgrounds to increase recycling. |
February 2022
| Applicant | Purpose |
|---|---|
Kuratau School | Creating a shed where students make paper bricks and recyclables can be stored. |
Stepping Stones homebased childcare | Involve children in composting to contribute to a backyard food growing project. |
Taupō Community Gardens Trust | Implement a food waste collection system feasibility study with the local community. |
3R - SeatSmart Recycling Programme | Fully subsidise carseat recycling for the Taupō district. |
Central Plateau REAP | Implement worm farms and food scrap collection bins for staff, contractors, and some visitors of REAP. |
Mangakino Central Charitable Trust | Creating a Community Mens Shed for the purpose of upcycling and giving new life to items that would have ended up in landfill. |
2021 funding recipients
Applicant | Purpose |
|---|---|
Te Pūawaitanga Kōhanga Reo | Supplies to start a reusable nappy programme. |
| Tongariro School | Paper shredder and other supplies to make fire bricks from paper and cardboard recycling. |
St Patrick’s Catholic School | Recycling bins to increase classroom waste diversion. |
| Waipahihi School | Compost bins to divert garden waste. |
| Bella Vista Motel | Implementation of a worm farm at the motel, with a Hungry Bin and individual food collection bins in each room. |
| Lake Taupō Cycle Challenge | Reusable cable ties to reduce plastic waste and litter. |
2020 funding recipients
Applicant | Purpose |
|---|---|
Market Central | Equipment to set up a waste reduction station at the Sunday market. |
Waste Free with Kate | Run waste-free workshops for local secondary schools. |
Tongariro School | Recycling sorting station bin. |
Transparency matters
Please note that all information provided in your application will be made available to relevant funding committees for assessment purposes. Select details - including your name, organisation name, and the amount applied for will also be made publicly available on the Council website.
