Matt Fairweather doesn't mind getting his hands dirty, especially if it means a trip to Argentina.

The Tauranga Boys' College student has been employed by Gourmet Night Market to sort rubbish for $25 for a three-hour shift, with all funds going towards his class trip to Argentina late September. The students need to raise $5000 each to cover travel costs.

Matt Fairweather, 14, working by the compostable bin. Photo: Tracy Hardy.

'We're just managing the rubbish and when people bring up their rubbish we've got to put it into recycling, compostable or general rubbish,” says Matt.

The 14-year-old has been taking Spanish at school since Year-9 and is taking the trip with his Year-11 classmates.

He's never been to that part of the world before.

'That's why I was very interested,” says Matt.

But he's travelled to Europe and a few countries in Asia.

'So this is going to be a bit different.”

What is his Spanish like?

'It's alright,” says Matt. 'I'm slowly getting there. I can sort of say my name and I probably couldn't speak a full conversation, but I could piece together a few things.”

Matt says it's an easy language to learn, but can get confusing at times.

'The verbs, nouns and pronouns have to be put together in the right way otherwise the sentence doesn't make sense, so that's a bit confusing; but once you learn that it's alright.”

Matt and his fellow Spanish students will be billeted by Argentinian families.

'I'm looking forward to that,” says Matt.

As well as their Gourmet Night Market shifts, the Tauranga Boys' College Spanish students are selling wine and chocolate to raise funds throughout the year.

On February 11, the Mount Maunganui market announced an outstanding landfill diversion average of 97.6 per cent.

Event organiser Kim Renshaw realised in June a need for an organisation to provide training and education to event organisers who wanted to improve their approach to waste, as well as deliver the service to larger events.

With a grant from social enterprise funder Toi Toi Manawa, Kim started Beyond the Bin. In late 2015, Beyond the Bin delivered the workshops as a pilot in Tauranga and Hastings.

Kim says the average landfill diversion rate in events that have done the training in Tauranga is about 90 per cent.

'That's technically zero waste. We acknowledge that people bring things from home that contribute to the landfill waste stream, but it's the approach and commitment that generates a teeny amount of waste onsite at the event.”

Gourmet Night Market has a team of seven volunteer educators who help the public understand the concept.

The market has diverted 2.1 tonnes of waste during its 2015/2016 season so far, with a special sustainability market on March 4 as part of Sustainable Backyards month.

The Gourmet Night Market is at Coronation Park every Friday from 5pm, until March 4.