Check if we can take your item:
Wellington’s home for reuse, repair, and recycling
Rather than throwing things away, bring them to us to be fixed, resold or recycled.
Our mission is to provide households, businesses and organisations with services that support efforts to reduce waste.
Te Aro Zero Waste is a welcoming space where people can come to learn about waste minimisation and access recycling, repair and reuse services.
Find us next to Sustainability Trust in Forresters Lane, Te Aro.
In partnership with:
Our services
Drop off items for recycling
Donate and return items for reuse
Purchase pre-loved items
Access our repair services
Borrow resources
Attend events & workshops
Learn about zero waste
Contact us
Opening hours
Sunday–Tuesday
Wednesday–Saturday
Closed
10am–4pm
Find us
2 Forresters Lane, Te Aro
Accessible by bike, bus, and foot. We have some parking available, including an accessibility park.
What’s on
Our regular events
A monthly sewing repair session with skilled volunteers who can assist you to repair your own textiles, or repair for you while talking you through the mending process.
If you’ve got the skills, but not the repair resources, we have a DIY section with machines available for you to use during opening hours.
A regular repair event with skilled volunteers. We can help you fix a variety of items. Usually includes electrical, electronic, jewellery, and welding repairs, as well as tool sharpening.
We hold our repair cafés around every 2–3 months.
Join us for our monthly community street clean in Wellington! Let's unite to kick trash to the curb and beautify our streets.
We'll spend roughly an hour on the streets and waterfront with our litter pickers making our community a waste-free zone.
Just Sew
Repair Cafe
Community Clean-up
Recycle
Reuse
Our guiding kaupapa is to reduce waste by keeping existing materials in circulation. Our model framework is the waste hierarchy, which prioritises actions that conserve resources. This means that we look for ways to reuse items whenever possible.
If suitable, items donated to us are sent to community partners that share our kaupapa. Check out our recycling and reuse services above to find out more about how your item will have a new life.
By donating to Te Aro Zero Waste, not only are you saving an item from landfill, you’re also supporting these organisations:
Retail resale
New second-hand items for sale every week.
We sell quality, tested tech and appliances that we’ve rescued from landfill. Grab a bargain, find one-off niche goodies, and feel good knowing your purchase is keeping items in circulation.
• Laptops, tablets and computers
• Peripherals and accessories
• Kitchen appliances
• Heaters, fans, and dehumidifiers
• Music and audio equipment
• TVs and projectors
• Gaming consoles
And more, with stock rotating often.
Can’t make it into the shop? We also sell on Trade Me.
Repair
RepairED
RepairED is a programme that aims to increase access to repair, rebuild local resilience and strengthen community connection and self-sufficiency.
We provide opportunities for people of all ages & abilities to build their repair confidence through practical upskilling, increasing understanding of their consumer rights, and by establishing new social connections. We gather, mend, connect and engage in the circular economy.
Repair is climate action!
Our repair resources
Repair stations
Sewing machines
Tool share
Street clean kits
We have a space set up with soldering irons, iFixit kits, multi-meters and other general tools.
This is an unsupervised Saturday service; you’ll receive a health and safety brief and an orientation and then be left to it.
Don’t have the tools or space to craft?
We have two sewing machines and an overlocker set up for use during open hours.
Don’t feel like buying a full repair kit for a one-off job? We have electrical repair tool kits available to loan.
Also available for hire/loan are beeswax wrap kits and a cardboard perforator.
Looking to do some good in the hood with your organisation, school group, or team?
We have a full street clean kit available to borrow, with buckets, litter pickers, and gloves.
While koha is not necessary for our free services and resources, a small donation helps us to maintain equipment and keep offering cool things for free!
More repair resources:
-
Find a list of regular repair cafes in Wellington here: Repair Network Aotearoa
-
Find a map of local repair businesses
Repair What You Wear has a great selection of basic mending tutorials.
Ifixit is the world’s largest online repair community, helping thousands of people fix their broken stuff by providing free repair manuals for everyday items.
-
Repair Café Aotearoa New Zealand
Repair Café Aotearoa New Zealand operates to support the existing repair cafés scattered across the country with promotions, advocacy, and capacity building to amplify the impacts of repair for local communities.
Through their Stem Club education programme, MakeRoom provides a place where kids can create, invent and learn alongside experienced makers.
Consumer NZ is an independent, non-profit organisation dedicated to getting New Zealanders a fairer deal. They advocate for the right to repair and are asking Government to introduce a national product repairability label.
BenchSpace is a community workshop in the heart of Wellington that provides all the space, tools, and support you need to explore woodworking.
The Tip Shop accepts donated items that people no longer want that are still in usable condition and gives them a second life.
Bikespace is a WCC sponsored community bicycle repair workshop, to get your bike running at its best.
Repair Network Aotearoa is a community-led organisation transforming Aotearoa through the stewardship of repair and the growth of a circular economy.
Repair Cafés form a worldwide movement that strives to preserve repair skills in society and to promote more repairable products.
Cahoots provides a practical workshop exclusively for women and gender minorities. They teach classes, provide training, and help you with your personal projects.
Micro Mill provides a space to facilitate connection, with materials and each other. Learn mending, upcycling, and crafting in their workshops.
About us
A zero waste world is one where nothing is wasted.
We’re committed to achieving sustainability through a circular economy model. In a circular economy, products and materials are kept in use for as long as possible, and waste that can’t be reused or recycled is handled responsibly.
The waste hierarchy underpins this approach and is the strategy that we follow. We focus on reducing, reusing, and repairing first—because keeping stuff in use for longer just makes sense. Recycling and disposal come last, helping us make the most of our resources and move Wellington closer to a truly circular, waste-free future.
Our people
Our partnerships
Our founding partnership between Sustainability Trust and Wellington City Council is central to Te Aro Zero Waste’s success, helping to turn circular economy ideas into real-world impact.
We work closely with The Tip Shop, diverting significant volumes of reusable materials back into circulation, alongside community organisations such as Recycle a Device, Wellington Curtain Bank, Cans for Kai Ika, Threads of Aroha, CanBead, SeatSmart, EkeRua ReBicycle, and Nil. We ensure materials reach the people and kaupapa that can make the best use of them.
Our volunteers are the heart of the Zero Waste family. They generously give their time, share their skills, and bring enthusiasm to everything they do.