Etu Rakau: creating a circular economy by connecting community

Growing up, Rata Taiwhanga craved a sense of belonging that extended beyond the walls of his Kāinga Ora home.

Rata Taiwhanga, right, wants to create a generation of change-makers.

Now 29, he’s making that happen for a new generation – and he’s doing it alongside a raft of community groups, schools and government agencies at the Māngere Community Enviro Hub.

“Having a space like this allows me to engage with a community that I feel passionate about,” he says.

“Getting people out of their homes and into environments like this is something I really believe in – this is a place where they feel safe and comfortable to practice sustainability and growing nutritional kai, and to learn about the lifestyle and job opportunities that can arise from it.”

With his charitable trust Etu Rakau, Rata was already working towards that vision before the Enviro Hub opened in 2024. But the new base meant he had space to grow it – the success of a fundraiser with Māngere College in August soon became testimony for securing nearly $80,000 in climate and waste-minimisation grants from Auckland Council.

And with that funding, 24 more workshops – half with local schools, and the rest open to the public – can be planned. The first of these, another with Māngere College, was held at the end of February.

“Today was about showing how well-connected our Mangere environments and organisations are,” Rata says, “to really show what we can do and how we can change the way these rangatahi see their future.”

One of those students was 13-year-old Jackson. Like Rata at the same age, Jackson lives in a Kāinga Ora home – he’s one of 18,000 people in the Mangere-Otahuhu area who do.

“It’s so important to have a place you can go to,” Jackson says.

“In this community, I feel like everyone’s welcome … they make you feel like you belong here.

“Although it’s my first time, I’ll always feel like [the Enviro Hub] is a place I can come to, you know, a bit of a whānau.”

Circular community economy

Etu Rakau’s funding is bringing more people together at the Enviro Hub, but it’s also paved a way for better infrastructure.

Rata has used some of the money to buy a new greenhouse, as well as two composting systems from The CarbonCycle Company – each able to convert five tonnes of organic scraps into compost every year.

“Fully being funded now allows us to really deliver these amazing workshops to the community and reach our goal of achieving a circular economy,” Rata says.

“That’s probably the most important thing – we can turn food scraps into compost, compost into soil, soil into food. That not only creates an income down here at the hub, but will be able to sustain other whānau who live around here in building their own māra [garden].”

At the February workshop, students quite literally laid the groundwork for this to happen – in a matter of minutes, they set up the second composting system, so it was ready to get to work.

Taking lessons from tūpuna

Award-winning chef Kia Kanuta showed rangatahi how to prepare kai for the hāngī.

Before breaking any ground at the hub, students first joined award-winning chef Kia Kanuta(external link) to learn how to prepare kai for a hāngī.

For Jackson, it was a chance to expand on his interest in Te Ao Māori – already, thinking of his future meant learning about his Cook Island and Ngāti Pikiao ancestry.

“I like to go back and learn about what my tūpuna used to do for the next generation,” he says.

“They weren’t just thinking about themselves … that’s one thing that I’ll be forever thankful for – our tūpuna thinking about us, so we can think about the next generation.”

The following day, students arrived at the Enviro Hub before dawn as more than 100 meals went into the ground, an effort led by I Am Māngere – the umberalla organisation that brought Etu Rakau and other groups together at the hub.

At the same time, 200 more were cooked at Te Pane o Mataoho, in Aotearoa’s first bookable hāngī pit(external link), thanks to support from the Tūpuna Maunga Authority.

As the kai was cooked, Etu Rakau and other groups led students in learning about stream ecology and testing, sustainability and composting.

“These workshops, and spaces like the Enviro Hub altogether, can give our tenants a real sense of belonging in their communities,” says McKenzie Tuala-Pine, Kāinga Ora Programme Manager – Placemaking.

“It took a lot of different organisations, from big to small, to bring this space to life … I really encourage everyone to come together and collaborate,” she says.

“Because this is what collaboration looks like.”

Mangere College students, alongside dozens of volunteers, assembled a CarbonCycle Company composting station in a matter of minutes.