High level of interest in draft Waste Plan
Published on 15 October 2021
Whanganui District Council’s draft Waste Plan consultation has closed and submitters will have the chance to address elected members in person when hearings are held on Wednesday, 10 November.
The council’s waste advisor, Stuart Hylton, says 220 submissions were received during the seven-week consultation period.
“We’re very pleased with the high number of submissions and strong community input on the draft Waste Plan so far.”
He says council staff and elected members had a stall at the Whanganui River Markets and attended the Green Drinks event to discuss the draft Waste Plan with community members.
“Our ability to get out and engage directly with the community was somewhat curtailed by COVID-19 Alert Level changes, but we asked for feedback online via social media posts and short videos as well as through our Community Link newspaper page and our community panel. Many people took the time to put in a submission, and we really value that.”
Stuart Hylton says the purpose of the draft Waste Plan is to look at how the council can help our district divert waste from landfill, reduce emissions from waste and provide greater access to recycling and composting services for our community.
The two key proposals in the draft Waste Plan are rates-funded kerbside collections for recycling – in 2023 – and food waste – in 2024.
“A kerbside recycling service would mean everyone in our community would have easy access to recycling and we’d be able to divert an estimated extra 800 tonnes of recyclables from landfill each year.
“The point of a kerbside food waste collection would be to keep food waste out of landfill, where it produces greenhouse gases as it breaks down, contributing to climate change.
“With a kerbside food waste collection our district could divert an estimated 1,700 tonnes from landfill each year.”
Working with an organisation to divert construction and demolition waste from landfill is also proposed in the plan.
The council’s Waste Minimisation Advisory Group chair, Rob Vinsen, says he’s pleased with the high level of interest shown in the draft Waste Plan.
“From discussions at consultation events it seems the document’s vision statement – ‘working towards a low waste future’ – is shared by the community, who see minimising waste as an important responsibility,” Rob Vinsen says.
“I’m looking forward to hearing from submitters and discussing the issues with elected members in November.”