Tauranga local government meeting

11 October 2005

Waste

Waste minimisation issues are not usually council wide (e.g. not in roading and parks) but only in particular departments. Waste minimisation needs to be included in procurement.
Recycling is not the solution. We need to consider minimisation and actually reduce the waste created.
In the Coromandel, a target has been set to reduce waste by 20% by 2008. However, waste has increased by 6% in the last year (e.g. construction and demolition, urban growth, lack of data and seasonal issues). There was a zero waste strategy but this was rejected by the council as unachievable. There are 5 wastewater plants that suffer to cope and an application is being put in to the Sanitary Wastewater Subsidy Scheme (SWSS) and Tourism for assistance.

Tauranga has kerbside greenwaste collection. There is good demand for compost product. However, some people still think that sending greenwaste to landfills is ok. We need to educate them that it is not.
In Thames and the Coromandel, people are putting out things for collection that they used to burn.

What is the progress on contaminated sites guideline? Whakatane landfill has issues with consents and needs guidance.
Waste tracking needs to be compulsory.
There are many wastewater issues (e.g. clay and poor soil, septic tanks, exceeding nutrients and stormwater infiltration of plants, seasonal fluctuations and costs involved). We need to consider alternatives and studies on how to deal with these issues. The SWIM handbook could be useful. Not all expenses are paid by ratepayers but we could work on this. We do not consider other effects (e.g. downstream).
In the Rotorua region construction and demolition waste is a serious issue.
A zero waste strategy was developed in the Coromandel but was not accepted as the targets and values set by the Long Term Council Community Plan were unrealistic.
The Coromandel has a big wastewater problem and is currently putting in an application for the tourism and wastewater subsidy scheme.
There should be standards for waste reporting (e.g. cleanfill and diversion). Due to user pays and private operators (and their operations) control has been lost on the waste stream.
We need help to obtain data as collection is difficult due to no ownership of facilities and confidentiality issues.

There should be National Environmental Standards to override District Plans for both drinking water and air quality without a requiring plan change for the district (i.e. similar to National Policy Statement). RMA needs to be amended to include this.
Contaminated Land National Environmental Standards will be very useful for resource consents.
We need to get the message across that with wood burners the onus is on the manufacturer to ensure that the burner meets the Standard. We would like a certification scheme

Road noise is an issue in Tauranga. A National Environmental Standard would be useful (i.e. with new roads during designations etc.).
We need a National Policy Statement to deal with the issue of septic tanks (i.e. for discharge limits). This should be similar to the Environmental Bay of Plenty strategy but it should be a National Policy Statement as a National Environmental Standard may not work (i.e. in its design, operation and maintenance).
Biosolids are an issue in Tauranga. There are public perceptions about heavy metals. We need to set standards so that it will be accepted by the public for biosolid use, safely.

Last updated: 17 September 2007