Have your say on the draft Waste Management and Minimisation Plan

Kia ora Western Bay whānau,

Together we've done an awesome job over the last few years reducing our waste to landfill. Now, we want to explore providing you with even better waste services and facilities, setting-up an annual contestable fund to provide community grants for local waste minimisation initiatives and so much more. We want to know if these sound like good ideas to you?

We review this plan every six years, and together as a community, we have done a great job at reducing our waste to landfill and better educating ourselves on how to create less waste. The draft plan is our commitment to continue to improve the way our waste is managed and to achieve the vision of minimising waste that goes to landfill.

This refreshed plan is built on the great mahi we've collectively done and also what we've heard from you. We want to build on our successful programmes such as our kerbside service, mobile recycling trailers and waste education, and make it easier for our community to do even more.

Some key areas we've heard from you are:

• Education – we will continue to support waste education programmes and explore partnerships with businesses to promote their waste reduction efforts. This includes funding going towards educating our community on minimising their waste and providing thoughtful strategies people can use in their homes or businesses to reduce, reuse and re-think our waste.
• Infrastructure – we will explore the establishment of Resource Recovery Centres (transfer stations) for our District, considering potential locations, funding sources, and partnerships. We will work together with other authorities, the government, and businesses to improve waste management for both households and industries, including in construction and demolition. We also propose to investigate more cost effective and efficient greenwaste management in the District, while continuing to provide access to existing recycling and greenwaste facilities. We know product stewardship (producer responsibility) is a key step towards reaching a circular economy. We want to be in the best position to support these schemes as they take shape and have included this in our plan.
• Services – we will continue with what we currently know works and improve existing services where feasible. We will monitor and review our kerbside services collection model to ensure it is the best approach, as well as look at whether an optional greenwaste collection service is viable. We heard through early engagement that it’s the larger, inorganic items that are the biggest problem for a lot of residents. As a result, we have included an action to investigate and trial alternative options to recover this waste as well as batteries and e-waste.
• Collaboration and Leadership – we will explore setting-up an annual contestable fund to provide community grants for local waste minimisation initiatives. This would use funds we receive from the Waste Minimisation Levy to encourage community-led initiatives that achieve waste minimisation and our WMMP objectives. Recent national weather events have also outlined the importance of waste management in the case of an emergency. We have included actions to work with Emergency Management Bay of Plenty to ensure there are plans in place for future events, as well as in response to dealing with contaminated debris.
• Monitoring and Reporting – we will continue monitor and collect data related to our waste reduction progress and show our alignment with the New Zealand Waste Strategy. That includes ongoing waste audits, compliance checks, and assisting businesses with waste monitoring. We'll also seek to focus on tracking the impact of education and services on diverting organic waste from landfills.
• Regulations - we will look to progress actions introduced through our Waste Management and Minimisation Bylaw 2022. In the bylaw, we included the clause to request site waste management plans for construction and demolition waste. We have included an action that will allow us to investigate and implement this clause over the next six years, noting that engagement with the sector will be undertaken as part of this. We have also included an action to investigate and trial opportunities to address waste streams (including construction and demolition) to support this function.