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 as they are edging closer to hitting a zero-waste milestone!

Toast Martinborough is one of New Zealand’s most esteemed food and wine festivals. In 2025, 4,380 people gathered across seven 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% recovery rate in 2025, building on their success of 97% resource recovery rate in 2023. This demonstrates that a more responsible approach to waste management at festivals is not only possible but incredibly viable.

Watch this video filmed during their 2023 event:

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 97% in 2023. In 2025, the event welcomed 4,380 visitors across seven locations and generated a total of 4,687.5 kg of waste. Of this, 99.05% was successfully recovered through composting, recycling or reuse.

They’re setting a powerful example of commitment to sustainability and progress!

Embracing the Circular Economy

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.

Speaking of the historic moment, Ariel Codde, Toast Martinborough General Manager, highlighted the significance of this achievement in the event’s ongoing commitment to environmental responsibility and circular waste management.

“We are incredibly proud of the progress we’ve made in waste recovery,” said Codde. “Achieving a 99.05% waste recovery rate is a testament to the collective efforts of our team, partners, and attendees who made conscious choices to support this initiative.”

Codde emphasised the event’s strategic approach to sustainability, “By implementing robust waste diversion strategies, partnering with key sustainability stakeholders, and prioritising compostable and recyclable materials, Toast Martinborough is closer to meeting our zero-waste goal. This accomplishment underscores the power of collaboration and innovation in diverting waste from landfill and setting new standards for sustainable events.”

Key Sustainability Highlights:

4,687.5 kg of total waste was produced in 2025, reflecting an increase of 599.95 kg compared to the 2023 event.
Only 85.03 kg of waste was sent to landfill in 2025, representing a 36.3% reduction from 2023.
506.3 kg of resources were composted, including food scraps and compostable packaging.
4,078.65 kg of resources were recycled, including glass, cardboard, aluminium, and plastic, 93.3% of which was glass.
Toast Martinborough achieved an average resource recovery rate of 96.23% among attendees and 99.51% for vendors and back-of-house operations.
Waste was hand-sorted into 16 separate resource categories, including compostable packaging, food waste, skewers, co-mingled recycling, cardboard, metal recycling, glass, PLA compost, small plastics and metals, Tetra Pak, soft plastics, single-use gloves, vapes, hazardous waste, reusable items, and landfill waste.

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.

Sophie Brooker, Co-Founder and COO of Nonstop Solutions, applauded the event’s progress, “We began our partnership with Toast Martinborough in 2022 when the event achieved a 93.6% resource recovery rate. That improved to 97% in 2023, and this year, we’ve reached an incredible 99.05%, with only 0.95% of waste sent to landfill.”

This success has been driven by effective vendor communication, an exclusive packaging deal with BioPak and a partnership with Compost Connect, and the implementation of stricter on-site packaging requirements.

Brooker highlighted the importance of education and planning: “Toast Martinborough featured 17 food vendors across various locations. Vendors received multiple communications before the event regarding packaging standards and waste management practices. If vendors did not meet these requirements, Nonstop Solutions assisted in replacing unsuitable packaging with BioPak alternatives. Additionally, we conducted thorough audits of all back-of-house waste to ensure proper waste management.”

Codde added, “We also engaged and educated attendees about sustainability and proper waste separation through our social media, vineyard partners’ platforms, and BioPak-branded disposal signage on waste bins.”

Craig Irwin, BioPak New Zealand’s Managing Director, further commented on the significance of this data in showcasing how other businesses in the industry can follow suit.

“Toast Martinborough’s success demonstrates that large-scale events can significantly minimise their environmental impact through strategic waste management and community engagement. This milestone sets a new benchmark for sustainability in the industry and reaffirms the event’s commitment to driving positive change.”

“We worked closely with the event organisers to ensure that only certified home-compostable products, which can be processed locally, were used. The great news is that 506.3 kg of organic waste from the event was successfully composted, including 271.9 kg of compostable packaging and wooden cutlery, along with 234.4 kg of food scraps”, concluded Irwin.

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.

The Nonstop Solutions Resource Recovery and Reduction rate quantifies the percentage of all resources generated at an event that were successfully recovered from landfill, indicating the proportion successfully reduced before the event or recovered during the event. ‘Reduction’ refers to the implementation of reusable items utilised to replace single-use materials, while ‘recovery’ refers to items recovered during the event, diverted from landfill toward recycling and compost streams. Any items not subjected to reduction or recovery are consequently sent to landfill.

Toast Martinborough Achieves a 99.05% Waste Recovery Rate

The Challenge: Food Waste at Events

The Goal: Becoming Zero Waste