New Tauranga rubbish plan up for adoption

Tauranga City councillors will today vote to adopt a plan aimed at reducing the growing amount of waste going to landfill. Photo/File.

Tauranga City councillors have voted to remain with the status quo for the city's waste management.

At today's Strategy and Policy Committee meeting, the council adopted the Waste Management and Minimisation Plan, which more than 300 people submitted to.

The council would remain with the status quo and would require further investigation and consideration of solutions to curb side services.

The plan included going out to the community for further research.

The plan spanned the next six years, giving a platform for the newly-elected council to look further into the size of the waste problem and how people were carrying out their household recycling.

The size of the waste problem is huge across the Western Bay region with about 90,000 tonnes of rubbish sent to landfill in 2014-2015.

During the council's consultation process, residents were asked to consider where the current user-pays waste collection and disposal offered the best environmental outcomes for the city.

More than 300 submissions were received, with 133 submitters supporting the proposed draft waste management and minimisation plan, which included a proposal to set waste reduction and recycling targets.