Moving to fortnightly rubbush collections is just one of the ideas up for discussion in the Waikato District’s new waste plan. Another idea is collection of food wastes. This option has already been checked out by Raglan’s Xtreme Waste.
Media Release: Waikato District Council
Waste Management and Minimisation Plan
Rubbish – it clutters our cupboards, fills our bins, clogs our landfills. There’s only so much we can
take when it comes to rubbish, and it’s time to figure out how to change things for the better.
That’s the philosophy behind the Waste Management and Minimisation Plan (otherwise known as
the WMMP, or the waste plan). Getting rid of rubbish is not easy – there’s recycling, there’s kitchen
waste, and plain old solid waste no-one wants.
We can recycle more – there’s heaps going into the landfill that doesn’t have to. A lot of it isn’t
directly handled by the council but we do have to do something as a community to reduce our
waste. We could, for instance:
- Extend the range of what we collect for recycling, such as more plastics being recycled. This
would mean less going to the landfill - Collect recycling from kohanga reo, kindergartens and schools, especially in rural areas serviced by existing recycling contracts
- Collect recycling from commercial operations, which would pay for the service through user charges
- Collect food waste separately for composting
- If we collect food waste, we could change the collection of left-over rubbish from weekly to fortnightly, offsetting the cost of the new food waste service.
- Upgrade the Huntly, Raglan and Te Kauwhata transfer stations so that people will recycle more
- Establish a partnership with the community (similar to Raglan’s Xtreme Waste) to help manage our waste
- Improve council links with the waste management sector through a waste management sector working group
- We’re also proposing a new waste bylaw to license waste collection operators and disposal sites, to be considered in 2013.
Have a say
The full draft waste plan is available at the Raglan office of the Waikato District Council and online at http://www.waikatodistrict.govt.nz/Have-your-say/Public-consultation/Draft-Waste-Management-and-Minimisation-Plan.aspx
You will find more detail and other initiatives there.
Have a look and have a say on the direction council is setting for reducing waste.
Feedback is welcome during 5 April – 9 May 2012 as part of the Long Term Plan consultation period.
Submission form available here.
We are also planning to consult while we are writing the bylaw (2013) and when we review how we
do kerbside collection in more detail (2014). It won’t be a waste of time.