Waste is a visible symptom of deeper systemic issues. Across Aotearoa New Zealand, organisations, councils, iwi and communities are striving to move beyond the linear logic of take–make–dispose toward circular ways of organising production and consumption, mindful of care for both land and people. However, intentionality alone provides no guarantee of systems transformation. In reality, decision makers still face a host of practical barriers – e.g., energy limitations, infrastructure gaps, supermarket led packaging systems, and policy settings attuned to linearity – as well as conceptual roadblocks that favour status quo over the often complex, relational work required to make circularity real.
Our report is an attempt to shift that reality. We explore where and why circularity is hindered, what types of social and technical innovation are currently emerging, and how ‘better’ measurement can help us identify ‘better’ investments. We begin by situating circular economy as more than just a design toolkit or a new label for recycling. At its strongest, circularity calls for integrated, place-based systems in which resources are reduced, repaired, reused, and only then remanufactured or safely returned to nature.
In Aotearoa, such aspirations intersect with Māori economic thinking that is regenerative, relational and inherently circular – spirality: cycles that return and evolve rather than simply close. Recognising this heritage challenges narrow interpretations of circular economy and highlights reciprocity, kaitiakitanga and rangatiratanga as foundational for transition.
In this industry insights report, we summarise insights from our 2025 Measuring Circular Economies Symposium, featuring keynote speaker Dr Jay Whitehead (Matatihi), and keynote respondents Assoc Prof Stephen Healy (Western Sydney University) and Professor Abby Mellick Lopes (UTS). The report finds that many of the challenges of measuring circular economies come from uncertainty about what to measure and how to measure it. The report was funded by Massey University and was part of a one year project carried out by a team including Kelly Dombroski, Nitha Palakshappa, Derrylea Hardy, Sita Venkateswar, Georgia McLellan and Gradon Diprose.
We hope to use the insights from this report to inform future work in the area of circular economy return on investment tool design.
By Dr Lila Laird, Postdoctoral Researcher, Massey University
What is the project about?
We are embarking on a project that traces how groups of people move up the ‘waste hierarchy’ and how such transformations shape people’s sense of self in relation to waste. This matters because issues like microplastic pollution, environmental contaminant leaching, and dwindling landfill space continue to negatively impact ecosystems and communities. In order for Aotearoa to avoid further waste crises, our use and disposal of material goods must change. Despite warnings and ample evidence, plastic, metal, organic material, food, excrement and building waste continue to grow.
Shifting towards ‘circular economies’ is often proposed to stop such crises and to avoid the linear take-make-dispose model. Instead, a circular economy keeps resources in use for as long as possible, and the waste hierarchy (pictured below) conveys the kinds of actions that are most beneficial in circulating materials for reuse. Near the top of the waste hierarchy includes reduce, reuse and repair, and these are the forms of circular economy we are most interested in investigating.
The Waste Hierarchy — we should be doing more the top and less of the bottom!
Circular economy research often points to high tech advancements, hoping to deal with our waste and also create business value from it. However, these ‘solutions’ do not often lead to less waste! Instead, they often end up adapting to the current flows of waste being produced. Social scientists researching circular economy practices have found that in order to reduce, reuse, and repair materials, large amounts of often invisible or undervalued labour is required.
In simple terms, it takes a fair amount of people-power to wash, sort, clean, store and transport resources for their reuse. Or to undertake research, connect with knowledgeable people, upskill oneself, and foster patience to repair an item to keep it in use. And it takes a significant amount of effort to avoid waste altogether. Therefore, because a circular economy is a matter of who is engaged and what kinds of action they are taking, our research is interested in meeting with people focused on being less wasteful and keeping their items in use.
Waste is a culturally situated concept. Different cultural groups have different norms and taboos with regards to waste, including what is considered necessary waste. Different cultural groups also have different kinds of relationships to land and the ways land is currently used to ‘deal with’ waste. For example, in te ao Māori, understandings of tapu and noa might guide waste disposal in different ways from western norms. All of this difference is an important part of the ways people approach waste, and what moving up the waste hierarchy may look like for them. And these differences provide important insights into the challenges and solutions to current waste crises.
What does the project involve?
We have partnered with three important organisations who help people in Aotearoa to become less wasteful.
Para Kore is a Māori zero-waste organisation. Para Kore educates and advocates from a Māori worldview for zero carbon and zero waste in Māori communities and beyond. They run sustainability programs across Aotearoa, working with marae, iwi, early childhood centres, churches, community organisations, businesses and more.
Repair Network Aotearoa is a charitable trust that works with repair cafes and similar projects like tool libraries and maker spaces across Aotearoa, advocating for the right to repair legislation in Aotearoa.
Zero Waste Aotearoa is an organisation that supports over 150 groups across Aotearoa that are working towards zero waste in their local community.
To explore our interests in waste and identity, we are undertaking field work with our research partners and collectives engaged in practices at the top of the waste hierarchy. We will also be undertaking cooperative inquiry groups that enable us to bring together like-minded people to explore their practices relating to waste and to items that could become waste, their concerns and feelings surrounding waste, and what they would like to change in relation to waste practices for themselves and their wider collectives.
Who is this research for?
By the end of the project, we will have co-created an action plan with our community partners that identifies how government and community can invest in social innovations needed for circular economies in Aotearoa. The action plan will support practices at the top of the waste hierarchy and will be directed at waste decision-makers in community and government. As many people grapple with the waste that enters their households, workplaces, marae, community centres and the nature surrounding them, we hope that our action plan can help to bring us one step closer to a waste-less Aotearoa.
What’s next?
We are currently connecting with collectives on the ground who are engaged in actions of reduce, reuse and repair. This includes repair cafes, textile recovery groups, resourceful-craft organizations, makerspaces, tool libraries, community composters, and more. We look forward to keeping you informed of what we find out in the process!
You can find out more about who is involved in the project here:
