In 2022, over 420 tonnes of material was diverted from landfill in our District. However, we still send over 10,200 tonnes to Mt Cooee Landfill. This is around 580 kilograms of waste per resident per year. This mostly comes from the construction and demolition sector, industrial or commercial operations and Council’s kerbside waste collection. The analysis shows that a lot of our waste could have been reused, recycled, or composted.

Managing waste and ensuring good outcomes for the community can be a complex task. We need to look after the environment, take care of people’s health, and make sure that this is done at an acceptable cost to the community. To achieve this, we all need to work together.

Council is seeking the community’s views on the Draft Waste Management and Minimisation Plan, and the importance of transfer stations.

Council set their strategic direction for managing and minimising waste in alignment with Te Rautaki Para - The New Zealand Waste Strategy (NZWS).

Our vision for the future

“By 2050, Clutha District is a low-emissions, low-waste society built upon a circular economy”.

Our goals, objectives and targets

Council has adopted the NZWS goal and it’s targets. If we don’t meet these targets, we would be in breach of waste reduction regulations, resulting in the loss of waste levy funding.

Council’s targets set out in the Waste Management & Minimisation Plan are:

• Reducing waste generation by 10% per person by 2030 (from all sources).
• Reducing waste disposal by 30% per person by 2030 (Council and commercial sources).
• Reducing biogenic methane emissions by 30% by 2030 (divert organics from landfill).
• Increasing kerbside diversion to recycling to: 30% by July 2026; 40% by July 2028; and 50% by July 2030.

Our action plan

Specific actions have been identified in the Action Plan to help address these issues and opportunities.

In summary the key actions proposed in the WMMP are to:

• Promote upstream waste hierarchy, minimisation, and local circular economy principles through collaboration.
• Divert more from kerbside collection services.
• Improve access to appropriate waste services for townships and the rural communities they support.
• Use Council facilities to divert more from the overall waste stream.
• Ensure regulations and collaboration enables Clutha District’s objectives, targets, and resilience.
• Investigate and provide effective environmental and economic disposal solutions.

Transfer Station Use

To meet national waste reduction targets and mandated kerbside standardisation regulations, Council will have to change the kerbside collection service.

Council initially considered four options for kerbside collection, however only one option will meet both the targets and regulations.

This will require a change in service level by 1 January 2027, meaning:

• New services for the kerbside collection areas.
• Four bins for household waste, recycling, organics, and glass.
• A new service charge of approximately $490 per house household (incl GST), compared to approx. $300 if there was no change.

Transfer stations provide additional services around our district. They are predominantly used by our community to drop off recycling, and their use may change as new services are introduced. We would like to know how important transfer stations are to you, as we will be reviewing these with our new waste services in the next few years.