Whanganui council's waste plan out for public consultation

The council hopes kerbside collection will encourage recycling. Photo / NZME

Public consultation on Whanganui District Council's draft plan for waste minimisation is now open.

The draft waste plan proposes two new rates-funded kerbside collection services for urban households; recycling in 2023 and food waste in 2024.

The rates increase – per household per year – would be about $70 for kerbside recycling and about $40 for kerbside food waste.

The draft plan focuses on services that will make the biggest difference environmentally.

The council's waste adviser, Stuart Hylton, said the plan looked at how council could get more involved with waste services with the aim of being a low waste district that sends as little as possible to landfill.

"Industry experts have advised us that introducing a kerbside service would bring more households on board with recycling, meaning we could keep an extra 800 tonnes of recyclables out of the landfill each year," Hylton said.

"A kerbside service would make recycling accessible for people who find it difficult to make regular trips to the Resource Recovery Centre and, for those who are already recycling, a lot of time and effort would be saved."

The proposed recycling service would operate weekly, with glass collected one week and other recyclables – paper, cardboard, cans and tins – collected the following week.

The second big proposal is a weekly kerbside food waste collection.

"Diverting food waste from landfill is a priority because food waste produces greenhouse gases as it breaks down, contributing to climate change," Hylton said.

He said a small, closed container would be issued to each household for food waste.

"Even households that are already home composting food scraps could use this service because it can take all kinds of food waste, including cooked food, dairy, meat and fish."

An estimated 1700 tonnes of food waste could be diverted from landfills and turned into compost.

"Ideally we'd like to see food waste processed in Whanganui, as long as it's sustainable," Hylton said.

Minimising vehicle emissions would be an important consideration and the council would seek central government funding for electric vehicles for the two new collection services.

Councillor Rob Vinsen, chairman of the council's Waste Minimisation Advisory Group, said the draft plan proposed that rubbish collection stays with private companies.

Rob Vinsen.

Vinsen said during several workshops with councillors the general feeling was that a rates-funded rubbish collection would be too much of a rates increase for households, at about $160 per household per year.

"Our draft plan targets areas where the council can make the biggest difference in environmental terms, so it focuses on collecting recycling and food waste."

He said the private sector is already beginning to offer pay as you throw technology, which gave households the chance to save money by only paying for the amount of rubbish they throw away.

"Pay as you throw technology is exciting and a real game-changer because it saves households money while encouraging waste minimisation behaviour."

Vinsen said the proposed kerbside recycling and food waste collection services were for urban households only because the cost of extending them to rural households would be prohibitive.

"However, the Resource Recovery Centre would be kept running to collect recycling from rural households and recycling stations would be trialled in two rural areas."

Working with an organisation to divert construction and demolition waste from landfill is also proposed in the plan.

Public consultation runs until Monday, September 27.

To give feedback online, go to the Draft Waste Plan 2021 page on the 'Have Your Say' section of the Whanganui District Council website or email policysubmissions@whanganui.govt.nz.

Hard copies of the draft plan can be picked up from the council building at 101 Guyton St or from any of our libraries when the services reopen.