KAI CONSCIOUS
Let’s feed an island…
A third of the food produced globally is wasted from farm to fork, and Aotearoa sends $1.17 billion’s worth of avoidable discarded food to landfill. Simultaneously, one in five children in Aotearoa live in poverty, and food insecurity is driven mainly by a lack of sufficient money for food.
Kai Conscious seeks to bridge the gap between food waste and hunger. We rescue food that is good enough to eat but not good enough to sell, diverting it from landfill. We also encourage donations of surplus food from growers. The kai is redistributed throughout the week by our fabulous rescuers, or cooked up on every Friday with the community.
Where to find us
The Café takes place at the Waiheke Sustainability Centre, 1A Mako Street, Oneroa and our community fridge and pantry, which are accessible 24/7, are situated to the right of the front door of the Centre.
What we do
Set up in 2017, our food rescue team saves food from ending up in landfill and redistributes it to community organisations.
Our community fridge and pantry reinforce a supportive and ‘waste-not’ community mindset. Community members learn adaptable cooking skills and waste minimisation tricks as they cook and socialise at our weekly lunch.
When to visit
Join the Kai Conscious team every Friday from 11am to volunteer, or community kai from 1pm. The community fridge and pantry are filled with rescued food four days a week (Mon, Wed, Thurs and Fri) and available from 1pm. Everyone is welcome.
If you are in need of consistent help, please contact Waiheke Budgeting Service located at 6 Putiki Road.
Get involved
If you are looking to get on-the-ground experience with our zero waste initiatives within the Waiheke community, we are always looking for more support.
Whether it be through cooking-up rescued food into meals for the community, educating on waste diversion options, or helping to propagate seedlings for people’s gardens, we would love to hear from you! No experience necessary, we only ask you to bring your can-do attitude!
We can’t wait to work with you to make Waiheke a better and greener place.
“I have learned a lot and really enjoyed your positive, interesting & knowledgeable approach to cooking & loved everything we’ve made. Many thanks also to all the behind the scenes mahi your team did to make things easier for us. You’re an inspiration! “
Debra Graysonst , volunteer
Since 2018 we have…
diverted
litres of water
saved
kg of CO2
served
of nutritious meals
Connect with our Zero Waste Manager
Zoe O’Farrell
Ngā mihi nui to our Partners
Funded and sponsored by
Related resources
Support Us
Starting today, we can create a more sustainable tomorrow. Support our mahi so that we can deliver a brighter, more climate resilient future to all those living on and visiting Waiheke Island.
Volunteers and internships
Join one of our amazing projects and help restore our beautiful wetlands, reduce our food waste and support our community. There are plenty of activities to choose from!
Our services
Whether you are a visitor to Waiheke or a resident, life can be a little different from living in a city, so we have services to support individuls and bussinesses can live and operate more sustainably and in tune with the island.