The Kāpiti Food Fair recently planted five fruit trees in the Mazengarb Reserve community fruit orchard as part of its waste minimisation strategy.

In 2019 the Fair set a goal to eliminate 80% of waste from landfill. “We achieved 82% with guidance from the Organic Wealth team and volunteers from No 49 Squadron Air Cadets. On the day, 44% was diverted to compost, 38% to recycling and 18% went to landfill which Organic Wealth say was an exceptional result for year one,” says Helene Judge and Jeanine van Kradenburg, Co-owners’ of the Kāpiti Food Fair.

It takes a lot of effort and money to achieve this result. Every vendor was rung and supported to get onboard with our plans and the waste buster team were trained to help visitors drop their waste in to the right bin. The crew from Organic Wealth sorted and cleaned items that could be recycled to make sure there was no contamination. There was an army of people involved to achieve this result including the local Waste Management team who provided the bins and cartage.

Earlier in July we got together with the Kāpiti Coast District Council Parks Team to plant the established fruit trees we had purchased from Harrison’s Gardenworld.

The community fruit orchard is located along the path that leads from Guildford Drive and connects with the carpark at the end of Scaife Drive. We planted a Liberty Heritage Apple, Granny Smith Apple, Duffs Early Jewel Plum, Yen Ben Lemon and a Meyer Lemon so when next wandering through the Mazengarb Reserve, keep a look out and watch them grow.

“We can't wait for them to them to start producing fruit for the community to tuck-in whenever they are passing,” says Helene and Jeanine. Thanks to everyone involved and at the 2020 Fair on Saturday 5 December, we are aiming to divert 90% of waste from landfill and to plant more fruit trees this time next year in 2021.

We have 59 sites left to book – if you are a local vendor, don’t miss out as we have a special campaign planned to promote you at the Fair. To book >> https://kapitifoodfair.co.nz/vendors/vendor-registration

Fill your life with good friends, good times & good food at the Kāpiti Food Fair. The Fair is privately owned and operated as a business partnership between Helene Judge and Jeanine van Kradenburg. For more info, contact: Helene Judge, 027 244 9585 or Jeanine van Kradenburg, 021 605 488, info@kapitifoodfair.co.nz

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