PRESS RELEASE- 2024 Report

4 June 2025

PRESS RELEASE

Leading the way in emission reduction

Enviro NZ releases fourth annual Sustainability Report

A 59 percent reduction in direct emissions (between 2019 – 2024) is a key achievement in Enviro NZ’s latest Sustainability Report.

Enviro NZ revised its emissions baseline from 2021 – 2019 to provide a more consistent basis for measuring progress, as the 2021 baseline was heavily affected by Covid-19 disruptions.

Enviro NZ Chief Executive Chris Aughton says, “We are proud to take a lead in emissions reduction within the waste sector. With a strong focus on reducing organic waste going to landfills, actively expanding our resource recovery services and ongoing investment in gas-to-energy infrastructure, we’re confident in our ability to materially reduce our direct emissions by 2030, even under the most challenging scenarios.”

Every day Enviro NZ is helping businesses, local councils, communities, and many New Zealanders reduce waste by extracting valuable resources and keeping them in circulation, therefore minimising the residual that eventually goes to landfill. “By working together we’re making a difference – delivering resilient sustainable outcomes, lowering greenhouse gas emissions, and promoting a better environmental future for all,” Aughton says.

“We’re on the right track and aligned with the Government’s recently released 2025 waste and resource efficiency strategy with a mandate to help New Zealanders improve the resource efficiency of residual materials and recycling, a challenge we are up to and will deliver on.”

And we do need to do better - New Zealand’s recycling rate is 38 percent lower than Australia’s. In 2023 approximately 700kg of waste per person was disposed of at municipal landfills and it’s estimated that the waste sector contributes 4.5 percent of New Zealand’s total greenhouse gas emissions*.

It will require commitment, collaboration, investment, and an appropriate regulatory framework to achieve positive change. 

“We’re moving forward in 2025 with a strong focus to be better, every day.  We’re committed to further reduce emissions, minimise residual materials going to landfill, support and grow our people, and help make looking after the environment easy for New Zealanders,” Aughton says.

“We’ve set ambitious targets for 2025 and will continue to hold ourselves accountable and measure our outcomes all while continuing to work towards achieving Enviro NZ’s vision of a New Zealand where looking after the environment is easy.”

Key 2024 Sustainability Report performance highlights:

Emissions – 59% reduction in Scope 1 emissions.

Resource recovery – 11% increase in organic waste composted.

Fleet decarbonisation – 100% - all passenger fleet vehicles upgraded to hybrid or battery electric cars.

Renewable energy - 5.1% increase in landfill electricity generation.

Safety - 97% of new employees attended a health and safety workshop within 30 days of starting work.

View the full 2024 Sustainability Report here.

ENDS

Media contact:

Tracey Mehrtens Communications & Engagement Manager Enviro NZ +6421 430 606 tracey.mehrtens@environz.co.nz *The Government’s waste and resource efficiency strategy. Minimising waste and improving waste management. Waste statistics snapshot, page 4. Published by the Ministry for the Environment in March 2025. INFO 1286.

Notes to editor:

Enviro NZ is a materials management and resource recovery company committed to managing, recovering, and processing waste streams to deliver sustainable outcomes. The company employs 1,200 people nationally. The company’s national network of collections services and critical infrastructure supports the vital sustainability efforts of local councils and commercial customers across the country. Whether it is turning landfill gas to power, organic waste to compost or returning waterways to a healthy state, Enviro NZ works in partnership to protect and preserve the one environment we all share.