Future of Waste Management to Open for Discussion

Submissions open next Monday (1 August) on how we should reduce and manage waste in New Plymouth District.

The draft Waste Management and Minimisation Plan will guide the future management of the district’s waste by encouraging waste minimisation, and decreasing the amount of material we send to the landfill.

The Colson Road Landfill is estimated to close in 2019, after which waste will be transported to another location (either within or outside the district), bringing with it higher disposal costs.

“We are currently looking at out-of-district disposal options – but the less waste we generate and the more we recycle, the longer the landfill will last and the cheaper our waste management will be,” says Manager Water and Wastes Brent Manning.

“About half of the waste going to the Colson Road Landfill could potentially be diverted for recycling or reuse. If we get this Waste Management and Minimisation Plan right, we could significantly cut the amount of waste that is generated and increase the amount we recycle, extending the landfill’s life.”

The plan focuses on options that would divert the most amount of waste from the landfill. These include proposed changes to the kerbside collection:

• Bringing in recycling bins.
• Bringing in a weekly organic (kitchen waste) collection.
• Changing rubbish collection to fortnightly.

“These three potential changes work as a package to get the greatest reduction in household waste going to Colson Road,” says Mr Manning.

The draft plan also proposes an upgraded or new resource recovery facility to handle the increased recycling volumes and encourage further diversion of waste from the landfill, and more public education to encourage waste reduction in households, businesses and the construction/commercial industry.

Any changes to the collection system will need final approval through the Long-Term Plan process.

Submissions to the draft plan close on 1 September. NPDC’s webpage newplymouthnz.com/waste has more details of the plan and an online submission form, or a submission form can be picked up from the Civic Centre or a district library.