Councils all around the country are required by the Waste Minimisation Act 2008 to set out a plan for how they are going to deal with waste. Auckland Council is currently asking for feedback on its Draft Waste Management and Minimisation Plan. Because of the large number of Zero Waste Network members in Auckland and the strong alignment between our focus on zero waste and Auckland Councils zero waste by 2040 goal, we’re encouraging our members to make a submission.
Submissions close on the 28th March, 2018
You can read the Draft plan here https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/have-your-say/topics-you-can-have-your-say-on/waste-minimisation-management-plan/Documents/draft-auckland-waste-management-minimisation-plan-2018.pdf
The proposed actions that come out of the draft plan are summarised below:
- Advocate for an increased waste levy
- Advocate for product stewardship
- Address three priority commercial waste streams:
- C&D waste
- Organic waste
- Plastic waste
- Continue establishing the Resource Recovery Network
- Continue to transition to consistent kerbside waste and recycling services
- Deliver the domestic kerbside food waste collection
- Address waste diversion from the council’s own operational activities
- Work in partnership with others to achieve a Zero Waste Auckland
The council submission process focuses on six questions.
Below are some ideas for how you may like to answer each of these questions. The final questions offers the opportunity to attach further information. The Zero Waste Network will be making a more detailed submission this way and we will make this submission available publicly.
Question 1
Auckland Council is responsible for managing and minimising waste across the region.
When we make decisions about waste, which outcomes are most important to you? (Please choose up to three)
- Delivering value for money for ratepayers and Aucklanders
- Reliability of collection services
- Reducing waste to landfill and carbon emissions
- Reducing environmental and marine pollution
- Tidy public places
- Creating jobs in resource recovery and processing industries
- Other – please specify
Choose whatever are most important to you. ‘Reducing waste to landfill and carbon emissions’ and ‘Creating jobs in resource recovery and processing industries’ are core to our work so we’ll be choosing those as a start.
Question 2
In the last plan, we focused mostly on our services to households, which handle around 20 percent of the waste that goes to landfill.
Now we want to expand our waste minimisation efforts to include the 80 per cent of waste that comes from business and commercial activities.
What do you think of this approach and why?
- Strongly disagree
- Disagree
- Neutral
- Agree
- Strongly agree
- Don’t know
Please tell us why
- Effective waste reduction requires a whole system approach that needs to be backed with practical action and clear audit trails.
- A focus on helping all players to understand their roles and responsibilities will enable more of them to be able to act appropriately.
- A variety of decision making tool exist to help businesses make the right choices such as input traceability, greenhouse gas measurement and resource footprints.
- Zero waste principles go beyond recycling, driving reduction from the design phase right through the system.
- Innovation brings new products on to the market that may not fit with existing recovery infrastructure. Developing alliances across supply and recovery chains based on mutual benefit and an interest in the public good will facilitate investment in infrastructure, make it more likely that impacts, risks and costs will be internalised.
Question 3
The three largest categories of commercial waste going to landfill are construction and demolition waste, plastics, and organic waste (food, green and other types of organic waste).
We want to work with businesses to try new approaches to reduce this waste.
What do you think about this approach and why?
- Strongly disagree
- Disagree
- Neutral
- Agree
- Strongly agree
- Don’t know
Please tell us why
- The environmental impact of these streams is significant, especially from a reduction in greenhouse gas perspective
- C&D waste – largest stream, has significant reuse and recycling potential
- C&D and Organic waste – some recycling infrastructure for these streams already exists in Auckland
Question 4
We want to make it easy for people to make better choices locally about how they dispose of unwanted items, so those items can be reused or recycled.
Five Community Recycling Centres are up and running and we have plans to provide seven more by 2024.
What do you think about this approach and why?
- Strongly disagree
- Disagree
- Neutral
- Agree
- Strongly agree
- Don’t know
Please tell us why
- CRC’s are a central point in the innovative RRN model.
- Provide opportunity for community involvement and expression of local priorities.
- CRC’s make essential waste infrastructure visible locally
Question 5
We want to encourage central government to introduce product stewardship schemes.
This includes a container deposit scheme where drink containers such as plastic, glass bottles and cans include a refundable deposit when returned for recycling.
This would encourage more recycling and help to shift the costs of recovery from council and ratepayers to the producers and consumers of beverages.
What do you think about this approach and why?
- Strongly disagree
- Disagree
- Neutral
- Agree
- Strongly agree
- Don’t know
Please tell us why
- Product stewardship is a way of managing the health, safety and environmental impacts of products, and in particular the impacts of disposal. Responsibility for reducing the environmental impacts of manufactured good is shared among all those involved in the product life cycle – producers, brand owners, importers, retailers and consumers.
- There is strong public support for the introduction of CDS in New Zealand
- CDS can reduce the harm end of life beverage containers cause to ecosystems and biodiversity.
- CDS can reduce the cost and impact of the manufacturing processes. Production of beverage containers uses a number of non-renewable resources and produces greenhouse gas emissions. Where recycled materials can replace virgin ones, the environmental impact of a product may be reduced. This is particularly true when reprocessing can happen close to where recovery occurs and the impacts of transportation are minimised.
- CDS can reduce the cost of waste collections and litter control costs and a reduction in loss of amenity value of spaces from litter.
- CDS can be financial sustainable
- CDS would provide a consistent recycling option for consumers around the country: Recycling systems in New Zealand are highly variable, with local authorities employing a range of collection systems for glass. Even if consumers utilise recycling schemes, in some places the cost of recycling is prohibitive. In Queenstown, for instance, glass recycling is sent to landfill instead of being recycled.
- The Auckland RRN and the wider Zero Waste Network represent potential partners for the development of the collection and sorting infrastructure for CDS – we’ve got existing networks and systems in place for the collection, sorting and recycling of end-of-life containers.
Question 6
The Hauraki Gulf Islands have unique waste management and minimisation requirements.
The Tikapa-Moana Hauraki Gulf Islands Draft Waste Plan sets a vision and outlines a practical approach to waste management and minimisation for the communities of Waiheke, Aotea Great Barrier, Rakino and Kawau Islands.
What do you think about the approach outlined in this plan and why?
- Strongly disagree
- Disagree
- Neutral
- Agree
- Strongly agree
- Don’t knowPlease tell us why
Question 7
Do you have any other comments about the draft Waste Management and Minimisation Plan?
Submissions can be made here: https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/have-your-say/topics-you-can-have-your-say-on/waste-minimisation-management-plan/Pages/default.aspx