We’re getting serious about waste!

Despite recycling more, our district is sending more waste to landfill, per person, than we were in 2003.

Diverting waste from landfill will reduce the number of trucks sent to Kate Valley Landfill from our district, avoiding the costs of transporting and disposing of waste there.

The services the Council provides, and the way in which waste is collected, have a large influence on our ability to divert waste from landfill.

The draft Waste Management Plan consultation process closed for submissions on 19 September 2008. We received a total of 2,165 submissions during the month long consultation period. Those submitters who wanted to make their views in person did so at the hearings on the 14, 15 and 16 October 2008.

The Hearings Panel completed their deliberations during the following week, and made the following recommendations to Council:

·          Proceed with the upgrade of the Southbrook Transfer Station;

·          Adopt Option 2 for the kerbside collection.  This involves keeping the existing weekly refuse bag collection and replacing the existing recycling crate with a wheelie bin collected fortnightly;

·          Promote the reduction of organic waste to the landfill by offering home composing systems at cost to the public;

·          Undertake further investigations in the following areas during the 2009-12 LTCCP period:

o   Organics diversion, with a particular focus on options for private collections of greenwaste, partnering with private industry, and construction of a composting facility within the district;

o   Review the extent of the boundaries for kerbside collection for refuse and recycling;

o   Consider options for providing satellite recycling facilities for rural areas; and

o   Review the level of service provided by the Oxford Transfer Station.

In making their recommendations, the Hearings Panel noted the following comments:

·         Their recommendations reflect the wishes of the greater majority of the community to keep collection costs down and to divert more waste from landfill, while we determine if organic collections and in-district composting would be economically feasible in the medium to long term.

·         Option 2 limits the increase in rates in relation to kerbside collection services, but would also divert more recyclables from landfill because:

o   Providing a recycling container that is larger, and more convenient to use, than the crate will divert a greater amount of recyclable materials from refuse bags, and

o   Residents will be able to recycle more than just number 1 and number 2 plastics with new sorting facilities being built in Christchurch; therefore a larger recycling container will be necessary to allow the many households who already fill their crate each week to recycle more.

·         Further, Option 2 provides householders with a chance to familiarise themselves with wheelie bins, which should overcome many of the objections raised about the difficulties in handling and storing of the bins.

·         It would have been preferable to implement an option that would achieve a greater waste reduction than Option 2, however the Hearings Panel were mindful of the public support for the lower cost options.  Additionally, it is acknowledged that implementing Option 2 would lend itself to implementing further waste reduction measures in the next LTCCP period if the community is of a mind to do so.

·         Council providing ‘at cost’ composting units would encourage more householders to compost at home, and we would achieve a greater diversion of organic waste from landfill than if this support were not offered.

·         While there was no clear mandate to provide recycling services or facilities in the rural areas, with 50% of submitters in the rural area supporting some form of recycling service or facility and people being increasingly aware of the need to be more sustainable, we consider that it is important to look at ways to make recycling more convenient for the rural sector.

The draft Waste Management Plan has been amended to reflect these recommendations, and the Council adopted the Waste Management Plan. The Action Plans and their costs have been included in the LTCCP budgets.

View Draft Waste Management Plan (pdf, 1,057kb)

You now have a further chance to submit during the LTCCP process where the Council has detailed its preferred option on the basis of your submissions, for further consultation. (go to Ten Year Plan page)