Hands-down our longest-serving educator, Kim has been teaching environmental education with enthusiasm since 2010. Beyond the classroom, she is an avocado orchardist and a hiking guide who’ll hunt down pest plants and critters while she’s out roaming.

kim@zerowasteeducation.co.nz

Covering Tauranga, Western Bay of Plenty, Matamata-Piako, South Waikato

“Thank you Kim – you have a classroom of adoring new entrants who have learnt so much. They can identify plastics 1,2 and 5 to put in recycling along with tin, glass and paper. They are excited to feed the worms with their food scraps and make some brand new toys out of used goods. Highly recommend – you are fantastic, engaging and insightful.”
– Hinuera School, Matamata-Piako

“Kim presents really interesting and engaging lessons to my class. My learners really liked Kim and she built rapport with them very quickly. The lessons were both interesting and fun which was great as she managed to maintain the attention of some of my learners who tend to lose interest in things quickly. Kim also managed to make the content of the lessons relevant and comprehensible to my learners. Thanks for an awesome three days. Kim!”
– Te Waotu School, South Waikato

While Julia is of Ngāti Ranginui and Ngāti Paoa descent, she was born and raised in the southwest United States. She is teaching her daughter about worm farming and has a theatrical background so you can expect plenty of lively dancing and animated teaching when she is in the classroom.

julia@zerowasteeducation.co.nz

Covering Tauranga, Western Bay of Plenty, Matamata-Piako, South Waikato

“Whaea Julia is awesome. Children were engaged. She had great examples ready to show. Went at an easy pace and adopted for mix of Y2&3 class. Good at letting children contribute.”
– Omokoroa Point School, Western Bay of Plenty

“Whaea Julia was fantastic. The students were engaged and eagerly listening the whole time. She had great hands on learning activities that help cement the learning for the students too. Such awesome lessons and I even learnt we can recycle a few more items too! I definitely recommend this programme to other schools. Thank you so much Whaea Julia, you are an amazing teacher!”
– Wairere School, MatamataPiako

Lenny is a qualified early childhood teacher who has taught in London and Singapore. These days, she brings her puppet helpers into classrooms to help with recycling lessons. She is also a keen gardener and a baker who shares her Hauraki home with pet guinea pigs and cats.

lennyzerowaste@gmail.com
Covering Thames-Coromandel, Hauraki, Matamata-Piako

“Awesome work Whaea Lenny. Our mokopuna were absolutely loving learning with you about looking after papatuanuku, they enjoyed your hangarua puppets and grasped the recycle triangles. Nga mihi motou matauranga.”
– Te Kohangareo o Kerepeehi, Hauraki

“Whaea Lenny made an excellent impression on the Year 6-7-8 class. Her two sessions were engaging with lots of hands on activities and collaborative work. Lots of great learning was done in the two double sessions. Well worth it.”
– St Joseph’s School Paeroa, Hauraki

Vicki hails from the mighty Waikato region and taught in the United Kingdom for 30 years. She is a big fan of women’s sport, being outdoors and her electric car. When it comes to the environment, the motto she shares with students is “you can’t be perfect but you can just try to be better.”

vicki.zerowaste@gmail.com
Covering Tauranga, Western Bay of Plenty, Matamata-Piako, South Waikato, Ruapehu and more

“Vicki was wonderful and catered to the new entrants well and kept them focused and engaged. The materials and resources were relevant and interesting and aimed to help engage students. Thank you for fitting into the craziness of our school and working around us with staff shortage.”
– Taumarunui Primary School, Ruapehu

“Engaging, fun, informative. Students enjoy class and develop further conversations outside the lessons.” – Walton School, Matamata-Piako

Neen is officially an environmental hero. In fact, she collected a New Zealander of the Year local hero award for her dedication to the sustainability group she leads. But she also walks the talk, growing and preserving her own food while restoring the mobile zero waste van she calls The Tardis.

neen@zerowasteeducation.co.nz
Covering Central Hawke’s Bay, Tararua, Carterton, Masterton

“Neen is an absolute credit to Zero Waste. Such an energetic and engaging teacher. The students were totally captivated throughout all lessons. Great content and worthwhile teaching our tamariki this information. Thank you Neen and Zero Waste Education.”
– Pongaroa School, Tararua

“Absolutely amazing! The kids really enjoyed it, they were engaged and learned a lot. They were disappointed when they reached the end of the last lesson. They will take what they have learnt and share it and apply it. Looking forward to next year. Invaluable.”
– Omakere School, Central Hawkes Bay

In addition to her education degree, Kristi has plumbing and gas fitting qualifications as well as a Bachelor of Māori weaving. She is also a sewer and a gardener with a son who helps her keep their menagerie in line. Kristi’s urban property is home to tropical fish, a dog, a cat, rabbits, guinea pigs and birds, including chickens who keep her supplied with eggs and compost.

manawatu-whanganui@zerowasteeducation.co.nz
Covering Manawatu, Whanganui, Rangitikei

This is a great initiative that’s had a real impact on students. The programme tied in nicely with science, technology, literacy curriculum objectives and empowered students with knowledge about how things are made and the impact of each process. Great to see kids learn about real-world problems and solutions.

All the new learning, information and resources were amazing. Students found the programme very engaging and were intrigued by it all.

Since his start as a Zero Waste educator in the late 1990s, Marty has been helping schools, businesses and the community slash waste. He co-founded our governing EERST trust in 2000 and has chaired the trust since 2013. He is also co-founder of the award winning Paper4trees programme in schools, a director of Waste Watchers Ltd and he has held numerous governance and advisory roles in the waste minimisation world.

Kate has been lured into the Zero Waste Education team to help support our schools as well as our educators. She’s our ‘fix it’ person who assists with everything from school bookings and information technology to keeping us focussed on the big picture.