{"id":412951,"date":"2026-05-05T14:03:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T14:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/412951\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T14:03:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T14:03:14","slug":"food-waste-to-energy-auckland-scraps-converted-to-gas-and-fertiliser-but-uptake-lags","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/412951\/","title":{"rendered":"Food waste to energy: Auckland scraps converted to gas and fertiliser, but uptake lags"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sood said, as the food waste is produced locally, we are less reliant on supply<\/a> coming from overseas, so this is a win-win situation. <\/p>\n

She encouraged any Aucklanders who have been slower on the uptake to start using their bins, calling it a \u201csimple change\u201d people can easily make in their own homes.<\/p>\n

\"AucklandAuckland Council deputy director \u2013 resilience and infrastructure, Parul Sood. Photo \/ Auckland Council<\/p>\n

Ongoing conflict in the Middle East continues to disrupt shipping vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>, placing a squeeze on oil and other goods, including the raw materials used to produce fertiliser.<\/p>\n

Damage to processing facilities across the Gulf States is also destabilising fertiliser<\/a> production as volatile fuel prices<\/a> remain a leading topic of conversation for policymakers, businesses and industry groups.<\/p>\n

Ecogas general manager Andrew Bedford said energy security is a very real issue in New Zealand at the moment.<\/p>\n

The company owns the anaerobic digestion plant at Reporoa near Taup\u014d, which breaks down organic material and turns it into bio-methane and the regenerative fertiliser Fertify, which is applied to farmland around the district.<\/p>\n

Bedford said food scraps from Auckland kerbsides could make up between 30% and 37% of the total volume per month.<\/p>\n

He said the gas produced at the site is a significant amount when considered alongside household residential use.<\/p>\n

Bedford said, depending on demand, the volume on the line can provide all the gas requirements for Taup\u014d and Reporoa.<\/p>\n

Last August, Environment Canterbury<\/a> granted Ecogas resource consent to build another organics processing facility in Christchurch.<\/p>\n

The plant has capacity to receive 100,000 tonnes of organic waste every year. It is expected to start commissioning early next year and be fully operational by August.<\/p>\n

Bedford said it will convert organic food and green waste into biomass fuel briquettes.<\/p>\n

These can be purchased as a drop-in replacement for boiler owners around the Canterbury region who might be using coal or wood chips.<\/p>\n

Bedford said these forms of bioenergy are helpful for hard-to-transition industries but said the Government also needs to get involved.<\/p>\n

He said he wanted more regulations, in order to move organics away from landfill, and better certainty about protecting energy security for the future.<\/p>\n

Bedford said New Zealand cannot delay action and keep relying on short-term solutions.<\/p>\n

\"EnergyEnergy Minister Simeon Brown. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell<\/p>\n

Energy Minister Simeon Brown<\/a> said New Zealand has a real opportunity to produce more of its own fuel, including bioenergy.<\/p>\n

He said the Government is focused on cutting unnecessary red tape to unlock private investment across a range of fuel sources to deliver a more secure and affordable energy system for all New Zealanders.<\/p>\n

Claudia O\u2019Neill is an Auckland-based Multimedia Journalist for Newstalk ZB with an interest in science, health and geopolitics. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Auckland and a Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism (Distinction) from Massey University. She joined NZME in 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sood said, as the food waste is produced locally, we are less reliant on supply coming from overseas,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":412952,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[84603,95,51,22398,20111,138,3013,21642,126504,91657,1667,45554,1888,564,16460,2964,212271,130,111,139,69,39706,7811,11555,131,165,61,137158,3382,25361,1530],"class_list":["post-412951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-actively","tag-and","tag-auckland","tag-aucklanders","tag-bin","tag-business","tag-but","tag-collection","tag-collections","tag-converted","tag-energy","tag-fertiliser","tag-first","tag-food","tag-gas","tag-half","tag-lags","tag-more","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-scraps","tag-since","tag-started","tag-than","tag-their","tag-to","tag-uptake","tag-using","tag-waste","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=412951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}