Warbirds Over Wanaka Makes Major Inroads in Environmental Impact

Visitors to the hugely successful Warbirds Over Wanaka International Airshow are getting in behind efforts by organisers to reduce the event’s impact on the environment.

Just released data shows significant improvements in the amount of waste going to landfill and a big uptake of a new initiative to collect food waste.

Overall, the amount of rubbish going to landfill was down 3,000 tonnes or around 30% on the 2024 show.  Around half of this was attributed to the introduction of a scheme to collect food scraps for the first time.

A total of 1.55 tonnes of food waste was diverted from landfill which is now being converted into compost to be used around the Wanaka area. 

Recycling and waste services at the airshow were once again provided by Wanaka Wastebusters and their numbers show the diversion rate by weight jumped from 27% in 2024 to 47.7% this year.  By volume, diversion improved from 50% to 64.7%.

Wastebusters’ Resource Recovery Manager Matias Romero says for such a big outdoor event with lots of exhibitors and vendors, introducing food waste diversion alongside quality recycling was a key factor in reducing waste. "Minimising waste to landfill is a collective effort. Credit is due to both vendors and attendees for sorting their recycling and food waste into the different bins so we could recover as much material as possible."

Warbirds Over Wanaka organisers also undertook an independent waste audit at the 2026 event.  That report has identified a number of areas where the event can make further gains going forward.

Warbirds’ Economic Impact report has also shown some 23% of all visitor vehicles were either fully electric or hybrid.  That’s up on 16% in 2024,

Warbirds Over Wanaka Event Manager Andrena Davis says they’re proud of the fact the numbers are trending in the right direction.  “Over the years we have been commended by visitors on how clean the event is when it comes to rubbish.  A lot of that is down to Bis and his amazing team from Wastebusters, but our exhibitors and visitors alike can also take some of the credit.”

“It’s also great to have solid data to work with.  We know what is being recycled and how much of it and we know how much is going to landfill.  And we have identified further improvements we can make for our 40^th anniversary show in 2028,” says Andrena.