Fri 5 Oct 18.
Waste Management and Minimisation Plan closer to adoption.
Councillors and Community Board members have workshopped the draft Waste Management and Minimisation Plan (WMMP) incorporating extensive research, case studies and public input from the extended consultation period.
Waste Minimisation Officer Daniel Allen said that it was a good discussion that looked at all the available information.
No decisions were made at the workshop but it highlighted that Council and the community shared the same vision for minimising our waste footprint, said Mr Allen.
The public submissions showed a strong support for Council to adopt a Zero Waste 2040 aspiration.
Council fully supports the principle of zero waste which requires us to manage our waste issues locally wherever possible.
Zero Waste 2040 has been adopted by various other councils around NZ and Council can see the benefits of being aligned with a national aspirational vision for waste reduction.
Other areas of discussion included what to do with plastic types 3-7, food waste, the role of community groups, pink rubbish bags, composting, education, service levels, kerbside collection, transfer stations and the speed of any changes.
With plastic Council was concerned that we needed to look at the downstream impact of any decision and did not want to be exporting a problem somewhere else.
The discussion on food waste focused on the need to do everything we can to take food out of the waste stream.
We know from past waste audits that up to 50% of what is picked up kerbside can be compostable material.
If we don't deal with food waste locally and remove it from the waste stream ratepayers will be paying to ship it out of the district.
Mr Allen said that Council is very keen to see where community groups could be involved in local waste minimisation efforts.
Council isn't always best suited to be delivering a waste management or minimisation service.
There were plenty of examples from around NZ of passionate community groups taking the lead with waste projects and achieving amazing things, he said.
Mr Allen noted that some elected members requested additional information before making their final decision on some of the issues.
We will be pulling together everything from the workshop with the additional information requested to go into a report for Council to consider.
The goal is to have this completed for the November Council meeting where all going to schedule the WMMP can be adopted.
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