Group gives views on Whanganui's new Waste Plan

A new waste bylaw could allow Whanganui District Council to limit the size of bins. Photo / Bevan Conley

Whanganui District Council wants to get more involved in managing waste, but it can't do and afford everything all at once, its waste adviser Stuart Hylton says.

He and the council's Waste Minimisation Advisory Group members Rob Vinsen and Josh Chandulal-Mackay made a presentation about the council's new Waste Plan to local environmental forum Green Drinks on September 29.

If put into action the plan will divert 15,000 tonnes of waste from landfill over its six years, and allow the council to limit the size of the bins provided by private contractors.

Stuart Hylton is Whanganui District Council's waste adviser. Photo / Stuart Munro

The plan proposes a ratepayer-funded weekly collection of recyclables, starting in July 2023.

The cost would be an extra $70 a year in rates per household.

The recyclables would be in cartons, with paper and cardboard, glass and plastic picked up in different weeks.

It's expected to collect twice as much recyclable material as the Whanganui Resource Recovery Centre, Vinsen said.

The material would be sorted at the kerb. If mingled it would need a $1.8 million sort line established here, or have to be sent to Palmerston North.

The second new service would be a weekly pickup of food waste starting in 2024. It would cost each household $40 a year.

Keeping food waste out of the landfill would greatly reduce the amount of methane, a greenhouse gas, that is emitted, Vinsen said.

The plan doesn't propose to introduce a ratepayer-funded kerbside collection service for general rubbish, because that would cost ratepayers another $160 a year. Nor does it seek to introduce a ratepayer-funded green waste collection, which Vinsen said would be contentious.

It does propose a waste bylaw that would allow the council to limit the size of the bins provided by private contractors, and require people building houses or holding events to present a plan for dealing with their waste.

Councillors Rob Vinsen (left) and Josh Chandulal-Mackay answered questions about Whanganui District Council's new Waste Plan. Photo / Laurel Stowell

Under the plan, the city's recycling centre would continue to operate, but get half the amount of product. It could then look at opportunities like a commercial glass or green waste collection.

It's already at capacity, Vinsen said, with 3000 visits a day.

After the presentation, various Green Drinks attendees responded.

Jan Harrison wanted more "concrete stuff" in the plan, such as deadlines for action.

Some councils were already diverting 75 per cent of waste from landfill, she said.

"There's a lot of things you will have to be doing in six years."

John Milnes said it was crazy to have three private companies driving Whanganui streets to collect rubbish, and council could take that up on some kind of "pay as you throw" basis.

Another man said rubbish bags were better than bins for reducing the amount thrown away, because people paid for each bag separately.

We are lucky to still have rubbish bag collection, Vinsen said, because it has many health and safety issues.

But he said a similar pay-as-you-throw scheme can operate with bins, with people motivated to limit their waste because they would only pay on weeks when they put out a bin.

One man said Whanganui should have a "tip shop", where items would be pulled out of the waste stream and sold.

He'd like the council to take control of a transfer station where that could happen.

Vinsen said that would also require an arrangement with a landfill, and the council was talking to one of Whanganui's private contractors about partnering in a transfer station.

Submissions on the plan are due by October 4.