Talking Point: Hastings council taking steps to address climate change

Research suggests food waste in landfills has one of the largest impacts on climate change. Photo / File

The impact of climate change is very real to us in the Hastings District, and along with other councils in Hawke's Bay we have been taking steps to address the issue for many years.

All the region's leaders have identified climate change mitigation and adaptation as one of our top priorities, and I would certainly support the declaration of a climate change emergency in Hawke's Bay to help raise awareness of this growing issue.

We need to get the wider community on board and realise the significance climate change will have on our future generations.

We have already seen the devastating impact of climate change on our Hawke's Bay coastline. It is heartbreaking to watch homes becoming inundated by the sea and roads being washed away by heavy swells.

Our council has invested more than $2 million on a seawall to protect the cape coast community and we are leading the country with our coastal strategy.

Weather events hitting our region have become increasingly severe. Take, for example, the massive downpours over Queen's Birthday weekend last year that caused a million tonnes of forestry slash and debris to block waterways and inundate properties and homes in Eskdale, and further north along the East Coast.

These extreme weather events are putting additional pressure on local councils and our communities.

Our council has been working hard to reduce the district's carbon footprint and address climate change.

Our organisation uses electric vehicles and we have invested significantly into bridges to increase efficiencies on our roads. We have also made a huge investment in the i-Ways programme to get people out of cars and on to bikes.

It was fabulous to ride a train on the reopened Napier to Wairoa rail line on Friday. This effort by KiwiRail will get 500 trucks off State Highway 2 and reduce carbon emissions.

In the next few months, our council will be planting 10,000 trees and shrubs around the district as part of our winter planting programme, including 4000 native trees in areas such as Haumoana, Waipatiki and Waimarama. We have also made a long-term commitment to Biodiversity Hawke's Bay and have identified an environmental portfolio leader within council.

Research suggests food waste in landfills has one of the largest impacts on climate change, producing higher amounts of methane gas than plastics. We also know that more than half of the rubbish going to our landfill could have been dealt with in other ways – reused, upcycled, recycled or composted.

We are trying to get down to zero waste through our Joint Waste Management and Minimisation Plan with the Napier City Council. But when we have 84,000 tonnes of waste from both Hastings and Napier ending up in a landfill, of which more than half could have been recycled or composted, we need to do more to help the environment.

Our council is in the process of putting together its own climate change mitigation policy, and as a community we need to work together to fight climate change.

We back the declaration of the climate change emergency in Hawke's Bay and urge the Government to do the same.

• Sandra Hazlehurst is Mayor of Hastings.