FAQs

The Waste Management and Minimisation Plan (WMMP) sets out the objectives, polices and intended actions for achieving effective and efficient waste management and minimisation for the Western Bay of Plenty district over the next six years.

Under the Waste Minimisation Act 2008 it’s a legal requirement for Council to develop a WMMP and review this six yearly. This sets out our roadmap for the next six years, including which actions will be progressed during this time to achieve our vision of minimising waste to landfill. Having an operative WMMP is a critical requirement for Council to receive funding from the Waste Minimisation Levy, administered by the Ministry for the Environment. Council is then able to put this funding towards actions in the WMMP.

The vision of our WMMP is minimising waste to landfill. Long term we want to work towards becoming a zero waste, circular economy where materials are kept in use, but we recognise there are multiple steps to get there. The actions of this plan focus on multiple areas to achieve this vision including:

• Continuing to support a variety of waste education programmes
• Investigating and establishing efficient resource recovery infrastructure to service the district and wider sub-region
• Investigating cost effective greenwaste management options
• Investigating and trialling options to recover large, inorganic waste and e-waste
• Establishing an annual contestable fund for local waste minimisation initiatives
• Putting waste management plans in place in the case of a civil defense emergency
• Continuing our existing waste audits and compliance monitoring
• Investigating and trialing opportunities to address problematic waste streams such as construction and demolition

More information on all of the proposed actions can be found in the draft Plan.

Council receives funding from the Waste Minimisation Levy administered by the Ministry for the Environment. This funding can be put towards the actions in the WMMP that work towards waste minimisation. 

Other funding systems that Council can draw on for these actions include:

• Rates revenue
• User charges 
• Revenue from existing facilities and services
• External funding and grants. 

For some actions, it will involve scoping and investigating potential projects to determine the best way forward.  We will then do further public consultation and consider the costs involved. 

This feedback process is specifically on Council’s Waste Management and Minimisation Plan. If you have any issues or questions relating to your kerbside waste collection service, please contact us via info@westernbay.govt.nz or 0800 926 732. You can also take a look at our Kerbside Collective website – www.kerbsidecollective.co.nz

• Have your say on our online survey on this page.
• Email your feedback to haveyoursay@westernbay.govt.nz 
• Post your feedback to Waste Management and Minimisation Bylaw review, Western Bay of Plenty District Council, Private Bag 12803, Tauranga Mail Centre, Tauranga 3143. 
• Deliver your feedback form to any of the Western Bay of Plenty Service Centres in Katikati, Te Puke, Ōmokoroa and Waihī Beach, or to the Main Council Office at Barkes Corner.

We will acknowledge that we’ve received your feedback and all feedback will be considered through Council’s deliberations process. All submitters who provide email or postal details will be notified of our decisions.

There will be an opportunity to speak to your feedback on Thursday 14 December 2023. To register to speak, please email Haveyoursay@westernbay.govt.nz by Sunday 10 December 2023.

Since our last plan was adopted in 2017, Council’s role in waste has changed significantly. We started our kerbside collection services in 2021, rural recycling trailers in 2022 and have completed a review of our Waste Management and Minimisation Bylaw. Alongside this, we have continued to provide education programmes, community recycling and greenwaste facilities, public refuse bin collections, monitoring and maintenance of closed landfills, illegal dumping clean up and abandoned vehicle collection.

This first stage of the development was to review the previous WMMP from 2017. Council commissioned a waste assessment to be done , which outlined progress made against the 2017 WMMP and key issues to inform this WMMP review. A copy of the waste assessment can be found here.  

Initial engagement was then done through the Your Place Tō wāhi campaign, which ran from 30 May to 30 June 2023. We received 694 responses relating to waste, with large inorganic waste items, soft plastics, green waste and the lack of a transfer station as some of the biggest issues affecting the district.  We have included actions that respond to these issues in our action plan, to be undertaken within the next six years. 

We have two Tangata Whenua forums, Te Kāhui Mana Whenua o Tauranga Moana and Te Ihu o Te Waka o Te Arawa. These forums consist of representatives of the iwi and hapū of Tauranga Moana and Te Arawa ki Tai and enable Tangata Whenua to discuss and address issues of significance in their communities. Workshops were held with each forum to seek their input into the development of the draft plan. Through this engagement period, the draft WMMP will be taken back to each forum to ensure that we have effectively captured their initial feedback and to seek further input.

We’re proposing to investigate and establish resource recovery centres (transfer stations) that will best service the District and wider sub-region. This will require investigations for potential locations as well as funding and partnership opportunities. By working in collaboration with other councils, central government and the commercial sector we plan to address the need for additional waste infrastructure to service both residential waste as well as other waste streams.

We have included actions to investigate and trial initiatives that will address community concerns around large inorganic waste (e.g. whiteware and furniture) and greenwaste.

We know that there may be central government initiatives that help to address the issue of soft plastics, for example product stewardship schemes. As we don’t know how long it may be for this to take effect, we have included an action to work with other organisations and businesses to investigate what actions we can take to try and combat this issue. 

Our latest report showed that 61 percent of kerbside rubbish collected from households could be recycled or composted, instead of being sent to landfill.  This is an improvement from 72% reported in our previous WMMP, but there is still a lot of opportunity to divert this waste further.

Not sure what goes in what bin? Try using our online search function - Item Search - WBOP (kerbsidecollective.co.nz) 

The New Zealand Waste Strategy - Te rautaki papa sets the national direction for changing how we make, use, manage and dispose of things. The Strategy is guided by the vision that by 2050, Aotearoa New Zealand is a low-emissions, low-waste society, built upon a circular economy. 

Everyone plays a role in achieving this vision, with specific expectations for local government. 

This includes:

• Applying the strategy to guide our Waste Management and Minimisation Plan;
• Collaborating with other councils to progress circular economy opportunities;
• Supporting local community groups and organisations with their initiatives to reduce waste;
• Working with behaviour change programmes to support waste-related activities;
• Considering waste management infrastructure within planning and consenting processes;
• Identifying and managing vulnerable landfills and contaminated sites;
• Monitoring and reporting on the amount of waste being diverted from landfill.

As well as reflecting these expectations within our action plan, this WMMP is aligned to the first phase of the New Zealand Waste Strategy which focuses on the goal of embedding circular thinking into our systems by 2030.

A circular economy means keeping materials in use. At the point where items would traditionally become waste at the end of a product lifecycle, they are instead able to be used as an input into a new product. To permanently minimise the amount of waste being created, it is important to focus on changing behaviour and redesigning systems to ensure less waste at the end.

Disposing so much waste to landfill isn’t a viable long-term solution and by working towards a circular economy, this will slowly ensure that over time less waste is generated and disposed. 

Aotearoa New Zealand is one of the highest generators of waste per person in the OECD. Through changing our behaviour – for how we dispose of waste that could otherwise be diverted, or reconsidering what we buy - this will mean we no longer have such a strong reliance on unsustainable solutions (like burying or burning our rubbish) that have a negative impact on our environment.