Predator Free 2050:
Rats, stoats and possums are being culled across hundreds of thousands of hectares, and the predator free by 2050 goal remains in sight. But what will the next phase of the project look like, as harder to reach areas are tackled, technology improves and funding becomes more difficult to secure. So far 757,000 hectares of land is covered by 18 projects overseen by Predator Free 2050 Limited - the Crown-owned company set up to deliver the 2050 goal. More than 100,000 hectares have been completely cleared of predators, including on Wellington's Miramar peninsula, with 71 percent more native birds counted in the country's capital in 2023 compared to 2018. Rob Forlong is the chief executive of Predator Free 2050 Limited, Al Bramley is the chief executive of Zero Invasive Predators and Brent Beaven is Department of Conservation Predator Free 2050 Manager.
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RNZ News
2 hours ago
- RNZ News
Auditor-General asked to look into food waste from school lunch programme
Fears that uneaten school lunches are adding to the nation's landfill problem. Photo: Jackie Diprose Anti-food waste campaigners have asked the Auditor-General to look into waste from the school lunch programme as part of his inquiry into the scheme. They say unopened lunches returned to providers are likely a small fraction of the programme's waste, but appear to be the only measure the Ministry of Education tracks towards its performance indicators. "We are really missing a trick and have a real blindspot, if we are not looking at all the food from start to finish, and it also doesn't include manufacturing and upstream processes," said Kaitlin Dawson of Food Waste Champions NZ. "We don't know what's happening there, and then once schools have a bunch of opened and uneaten lunches to deal with, we don't know where that's going - if it's going to landfill and producing methane emissions, or if they have better pathways to deal with that." Food waste produces methane - the same potent, planet-heating gas produced by New Zealand's millions of cows and sheep. Instead of rising from grass, and other animal food breaking down in the airless confines of cow's or sheep's gut, this methane comes from wasted food and garden material breaking down in the airless conditions of a landfill. While methane from cows and sheep accounts for about 91 percent of New Zealand's total methane, landfills account for most of the rest. Avoiding food waste, and ensuring any scraps are composted, or used to create gas for household or business use reduces the climate impact. The Government's procurement plan for the restructure of the school lunch programme included a performance indicator of keeping waste below 7 percent of total food. It also mentioned opportunities to reduce surplus food and manage waste disposal. The Food Waste Champions group said it understood waste was only measured by tracking the proportion of lunches returned unopened to the provider. It said the Ministry didn't know the fate of many meals that were opened, but largely uneaten. "What I understand is that a lot of waste is still happening at schools," Dawson said. "We see the inquiry into the school lunch programme as an incredible opportunity for the providers and everyone involved to make sure more food gets to people." The anti-waste group also said that, while the previous programme of using local lunch providers resulted in families taking a lot of uneaten food home, this couldn't happen under the new model, because the food was not supposed to be reheated. It said the lack of centralised data was a governance gap, which the Auditor-General should look into. "We fully support the intent behind 'Ka Ora, Ka Ako', but the current model poses significant food waste risks, as well as environmental impacts, if not properly monitored," Dawson said. While the full emissions from the current programme weren't known, Dawson pointed to a climate footprint evaluation by the Ministry in 2022, which found the school lunches programme to be the third-highest emissions source for the Ministry, producing the equivalent of more than 71,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually. The Ministry said a survey of suppliers in the first term of the 2025 school year showed 33 percent of kitchens composted some food waste and 26 percent fed scraps to animals. It said uneaten food scraps removed from schools were composted "where possible", but it didn't supply a percentage for this. The Ministry said previous iterations of the programme delivered meals to the total school roll, but now schools ordered meals based on attendance, which it believed was the most sustainable way to reduce waste. "Our service agreements require suppliers to provide details on the approach to both waste and surplus meals, and to set minimisation targets," it said. "Packaging waste and food scraps removed from schools and kura are measured by weight, and where possible, is composted or recycled. The number of surplus meals returned to the supplier is counted for reporting purposes." It said NZ Food Waste Champions had not approached the Ministry about its concerns, but it welcomed the opportunity to discuss the issue. Dawson said a scrapped kerbside compost bin rollout was also a missed opportunity by the Government to use its power to lower food waste emissions. The Government has a goal of cutting total methane by 10 percent by 2030 and between 24-47 percent by 2050, although the 2050 target is under review. Environment officials and the Climate Change Commission have told successive governments that the waste sector has potential to do more than its share towards reducing methane, despite being a smaller contributor than farming, through capturing methane from landfills and using it for energy, and diverting food scraps from reaching landfills in the first place. In 2022, waste sector emissions were almost 20 percent below 1990 levels, because of tightened regulations on many city landfills. Waste companies say, if all landfills performed as well as the newest ones, methane emissions could reduce further. Diverting and reducing waste using food scrap collections, food rescue and other measures would also help, according to campaigners. The Climate Change Commission estimated waste emissions could be slashed further to a total 40 percent reduction by 2035, with strong policies, but several planned waste policies have been rolled back by the Government. The Waste Minimisation Fund available to councils for initiatives such as kerbside collections was cut by 49 percent at the 2025 Budget. Three days before Christmas 2024, the Government quietly cancelled plans for a performance standard for council composting schemes, as well as a mandatory roll out of kerbside food scraps bins for all urban areas. More than half of New Zealanders have access to kerbside compost collection, including Auckland and Christchurch residents, but people in cities likeTaupō and Wellington do not. The schemes collect food waste and compost them, reducing methane emissions. One scheme at Reporoa turns household compost into gas that can partially replace fossil gas in household appliances, but Dawson said that, with only one such facility operating, many more initiatives were needed to reduce and reuse waste. Environment officials told Environment Minister Penny Simmonds that making kerbside collections mandatory in urban areas would likely result in rates rises for residents in places without existing schemes. She was told the rollout would also "offer a high level of waste minimisation and emissions abatement benefits". They recommended shifting the rollout deadline to 2030 from 2027, but the mandate was dropped. That decision resulted in Taupō District Council turning down $486,000 government funding to create an organic kerbside collection and ditching its kerbside collection plans. Environment ministry officials have noted that food waste produced six times the emissions of other landfill waste and broke down quickly, releasing much of its methane, before it could be captured by landfill gas systems. They've reported that New Zealand was underperforming in waste reduction and management, and lags behind many countries, when it came to reducing and managing household waste. In 2021, an average of 700kg of waste per person was sent to landfill, making New Zealand one of the highest generators of waste per person in the OECD. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
3 hours ago
- RNZ News
Schools serve up their own lunches: 'We all want to keep the programme going'
Porirua College canteen manager Antoinette Van Den Elzen oversees lunch production in the school's kitchen. Photo: RNZ / John Gerritsen Schools that still serve up their own lunches they have made - despite slashed funding from the government's free school lunch scheme - are determined to stick with it. After six months under the revised scheme, they say their meals are better than centrally provided lunches, although some are making more use of lentils and vegetables to make ends meet. One primary school told RNZ it was managing within the government's $4-a-child funding, but a nearby college, where students had bigger appetites, said it was facing a $50,000 shortfall. Education Ministry figures showed 268 schools were on the "internal model", meaning they either made their own lunches, or received lunches made by another school. Contributing primary schools with pupils up to Year 6 were funded at $5.56-$6.52 per child, but intermediate and secondary schools and primary schools with pupils in Year 7 received $4 per child. At Porirua College, canteen manager Antoinette Van Den Elzen said the reduced funding was challenging and required good relationships with ingredient suppliers, but she was confident the school's meals were better than the centrally provided option. "I think our lunches are much better," she said. "All the dishes go down really well, here. They're all favourites." School principal Ragne Maxwell said it initially tried to stay within the government funding, but it did not work. "We simply could not produce acceptable amounts of even moderate-quality food for that price. That was not possible. We did it for a few weeks and the students were really unhappy with what they were getting to eat compared to what they were used to - and you've got to remember that for many of our students this might be the big and often the [only] hot meal they get," she said. "So we had to improve the quality of what we were doing and increase our expenditure. So we are operating in deficit to provide quality lunches for the thousands of young people in Porirua who really need them." Maxwell said the school was facing a $50,000 shortfall which it could cover this year, but next year and beyond it would need charitable support. She said it was definitely worth continuing the in-house scheme. "This is the biggest and best initiative I have ever seen in my time in teaching to challenge child poverty in New Zealand. This is food that is going directly into the mouths of young people who are hungry and we shouldn't be letting any of our young people go hungry," she said. Tairangi Primary School in Porirua East was also on the lower funding rate because it had children in Y7-8. Principal Jason Ataera said it received $60,000 less than last year and had to cut a staff member from the kitchen and reduce the use of dairy products. "We also gradually taught students to eat some more vegetarian options, which has been an interesting path. It's weird that we live in New Zealand and serving beef mince is a luxury, but importing lentils and having lentil nachos is much cheaper," he said. Ataera said the school's food supplier agreed to match prices of the national school lunch supplier and in some cases was cheaper. He said those measures kept costs within the government funding of $4 per child. "Our fixed cost for the kitchen comes in at about $2.50 per child per day. That's just to keep the kitchen running with the person staffing it and and those sorts of things. So that leaves us about $1.50 a day for food," he said. Ataera said the school's chef was able to make lunches during the warmer months for about $1 per child, so it could afford to provide hot meals through the winter. However, he said there was no money left over to cover wear and tear on equipment. "That's one thing that we're still struggling with is everything is geared towards providing the food to the kids, but there is not enough enough slack in the system to provide for asset replacement if and when those appliances and commercial ovens start breaking." Ataera said the internal model was much better than central provision because the food was better, nobody missed lunch due to late delivery and special dietary requirements were always met. Contributing primary schools, which enrolled children up to Y6, would come under the cut-price funding model next year. Tute Mila, principal of Arakura School in Wainuiomata, said the school wanted to keep making its own lunches, but would have to find $40-50,000 a year to do it. "We all want to keep the programme going because it's made such a difference for our children, for our attendance, for our engagement in the classroom and just for general, well-being of those students," she said. Mila said making the lunches, and growing many of the vegetables in a school garden, had wider benefits than just feeding children. She said they had a greater understanding of where food came from, and some asked their parents to use the same vegetables they ate at school. "It's not just about the food anymore. It's the holistic approach. It's the things that we've been able to hook on it." Mila said the school had reserved enough money to cover the programme for half of next year, but would have to fundraise or find a donor for the remainder. "If we can't raise the money, if we can't get donations, then the board will have to pay for it out of our operations. And that option is the last option because we already are heavily invested in providing a teacher aide in every classroom because we've got so many neurodiverse children, so many children with really high needs," she said. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
16 hours ago
- RNZ News
From fine dining to feeding youth in need
Ashlee Savea prepares lunch at the residence. Each teen has a $20 a day budget. Photo: RNZ / Jimmy Ellingham A set of keys jangling from her pocket to get through the thick, secure doors is a reminder of one Palmerston North chef's job change. After 17 years in fine dining, hotel, and large catering jobs, three years ago, Ashlee Savea took the helm of the kitchen at the city's Oranga Tamariki youth justice facility, Te Au rere a te Tonga. Ashlee Savea has swapped fine dining for working in a youth justice facility. Photo: RNZ / Jimmy Ellingham Savea swapped preparing gourmet creations for paying customers with feeding youth offenders on a $20-a-day per-head budget. Up to 30 young people, aged 12-17, are onsite. "We serve ham and cheese sandwiches, beef tacos. We did a chicken karaage. The kids were like, What's this? We try to do some ethnic foods. We've done sushi, burgers," she said. "I develop the menu myself. I take inspiration a lot from my daughter. She's 9." The budget brought constraints - "I'm not going to order a slab of salmon" - and there was plenty of trial and error. Youth justice residents also had a chance to give feedback on what appealed and what didn't. The 34-year-old said she sometimes went into "mum mode" to remind the teens at Te Au rere a te Tonga to eat their greens and fruit - part of the vocational aspect of the job that appealed to Savea. Te Au rere a te Tonga, the youth justice residence in Palmerston North, can house up to 30 teens. Photo: RNZ / Jimmy Ellingham Also appealing were the daytime hours, after a working life of weekends and evenings, which was hard on her family. She said changing jobs to work at a youth justice facility attracted its share of sideways glances, but she didn't have regrets. "Everyone has opinions about this place. At the end of the day, these are kids. They still need love... Some of them didn't even get fed at home, so this is really great for them," Savea said. "I've never second-guessed my safety or anything here." Sometimes there was an emotional toll. "You definitely hear stories about where these young people have come from, which is really hard to hear. Some of them have come from nothing. They're fending for themselves." Savea had three staff members, as well as casuals, working under her. When RNZ visited the industrial-looking kitchen, a bacon and egg Turkish pocket was on the lunch menu, ahead of southern-style fried chicken for dinner. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
