Sustainability and local small business.
Horowhenua’s local hospitality businesses, Zaaffran ‘Taste of Morocco’ Food Truck, attended a sustainability workshop series, organised by WellingtonNZ, Tourism Industry Aotearoa and Hospitality New Zealand.
The workshops covered measuring emissions, reducing waste streams, and discovering industry specific information. In addition, an expert consultant made a site visit to analyse opportunities for improvements at each business involved in the programme. Tangible solutions were brainstormed with a cohort of other hospo businesses from the Wellington region and even the smallest wins and new initiatives actioned by group members were celebrated. Some participants were already deep into their sustainability journey and others were right at the start – collectively ideas were shared and motivation and understanding increased over the course of the series.
We celebrate Emily and Hassan from Zaaffran for taking up the challenge to participate in this initiative and taking action with their small business.
They’ve now built a large-scale composting system and compost 95% of their food waste. They can now leverage their connections with organisers of food truck events, especially local councils to improve waste stream solutions. They’ve assessed their carbon footprint to identify their biggest opportunities for improvements and are creating circularity using homegrown produce as ingredients, cultivated using the compost created from their business waste stream.
Emily and Hassan expressed gratitude for the opportunity - for the learnings and encouragement they gained to take steps to reduce their waste. They said it had been a hugely satisfying process and overall, they found making changes easier than first anticipated.
Thanks to WellingtonNZ for reaching out to THCL and allowing us to share this opportunity with Horowhenua businesses.
Is your small business making progress in the sustainability space? We’d like to hear from you! We’re keen to share more Horowhenua business sustainability stories - as small steps and collaboration can inspire significant change.
