Toast Martinborough Achieves a 99.05% Waste Recovery Rate

Do you love the summer festival season, but hate the waste that comes with it?

Well, good news – festivals like Toast Martinborough are making waves in the sustainability space.

Do you love the summer festival season, but hate the waste that comes with it?

Well, good news – festivals like Toast Martinborough are making waves in the sustainability space.

Toast Martinborough is one of New Zealand’s most esteemed food and wine festivals. In 2025, 4,380 people gathered across eight different sites for a blissful day out amongst the vines where they could sample delicious food and wine and let their hair down on the dancefloor.

At Compost Connect, we’re proud to connect events like Toast Martinborough to compost pickup services so they can divert food waste and compostable packaging from landfill.

Toast Martinborough is a shining success story in the events industry, achieving a 99.05% resource recovery rate in 2053. This demonstrates that a more responsible approach to waste management at festivals is not only possible but incredibly viable.

The Challenge: Food Waste at Events

Toast Martinborough recognised food packaging as one of the biggest contributors to event waste.

With that, they started to look at ways they could reduce the amount of waste going to landfill. They opted for compostable or reusable solutions and closely managed the end-of-life disposal.

The Goal: Becoming Zero Waste

Toast Martinborough aims to offer a renowned food and wine festival, while minimising their overall environmental impact. The event organisers have shared both their short term and long term sustainability goals.

In the short term, they’re looking to minimise waste and divert all compostable and organic matter to commercial compost facilities. Their long-term goal is to move toward a completely circular system with reusable vessels for all attendees’ food and drinks.

Their journey toward zero waste is truly inspiring. In 2022, they achieved an impressive recovery rate of 93.6%, which rose to an even more remarkable 97% in 2023. They’re setting a powerful example of commitment to sustainability and progress as they achieved 99.05% waste recovery rate in their 2025 event!

Embracing the Circular Economy

In 2024, Toast Martinborough partnered with Nonstop Solutions, BioPak and Compost Connect to achieve outstanding sustainability results.

Nonstop Solutions

Nonstop Solutions are a New Zealand based team of sustainability experts, partnering with events and businesses to implement zero waste systems.

The Nonstop Solutions team were present at the event to help educate festival-goers on the zero waste system, sort and recover waste, and strike up a conversation about sustainability.

Certified Compostable Packaging

BioPak supplies all foodservice packaging to the Toast Martinborough food stall holders.

Vendors served food in packaging made from responsibly sourced, rapidly renewable plant-based resources – designed to be composted at the end of its life.

All the foodservice packaging supplied was certified home compostable (AS5810) to Australian Standards.

Compost Connect – Closing The Loop

Toast Martinborough partnered with Compost Connect to dispose of all compostable packaging and complete the circle.

Compost Connect is a not-for-profit composting initiative connecting businesses and events to organic waste pickup services. This helps divert food waste from landfill and create nutrient-rich compost instead.

At Compost Connect, we see composting as the best end-of-life solution for food waste and compostable foodservice packaging – now and in the future.

Instead of adding to landfill, we can turn food and packaging waste into a nutrient-rich resource that captures carbon, promotes healthy soil, and has flow-on effects for plants and the planet.

Sustainability Wins at Toast Martinborough

Toast Martinborough is a shining example of sustainability in the events industry.

Across the entire event, they achieved a 99.05% resource recovery rate. An impressive 87% of waste was recovered through recycling, while 11% was diverted to composting facilities. Remarkably, only 2% of total waste ended up in landfill, showcasing outstanding sustainable waste management practices.

The event was able to achieve such impressive results thanks to a combined effort and several sustainability measures.

Firstly, resource recovery stations were made to be accessible, with a total of 35 stations across the entire event and 214 bins. There was clear bin signage to educate attendees on the correct disposal method.

The Nonstop Solutions team were present at the event to help implement the system, strike up a conversation about sustainability, and hand sort the waste. The majority of waste was sorted quickly and efficiently on the day of the event.

Finally, tracking and reporting tools were used so they could see the positive impact and find areas for improvement for next time.

These outstanding results wouldn’t have been possible without the combined efforts of Nonstop Solutions, Compost Connect, BioPak packaging and all attendees and vendors at Toast Martinborough.

A Greener Future for Events

Toast Martinborough proves that large-scale events can seamlessly combine food, wine, music and environmental responsibility.

With 2025 achieving a whopping 99.05% resource recovery rate, we can only expect to see more inspiring results in the future – something other renowned events can emulate.

Toast Martinborough Achieves a 99.05% Waste Recovery Rate

The Challenge: Food Waste at Events

The Goal: Becoming Zero Waste