Proposed Joint Waste Management and Minimisation Plan Released

The release of the proposed Joint Waste Management and Minimisation Plan is a call for real behavioural change in the communities of Nelson and Tasman.

Driven by the Nelson and Tasman Councils, the plan focuses on creating a community responsibility for minimising and managing waste in the region.

It is a challenge that will need to be taken up by residents and businesses as well as the Councils, says working party chair Tasman District Councillor Judene Edgar.

“In the past the Councils have delivered waste management in terms of providing transfer stations and recycling initiatives focused on managing what is produced and disposed of,” she says.

“The time has come for the community as a whole to look seriously at what we can do to minimise our waste before disposal. Not creating waste in the first place is more sustainable.”

“Over the past few years we have seen what we can do with recycled glass for infrastructure in roading and as a base for the Trafalgar Park playing surface. However, ingenious and well-intentioned as it is it is still driven by the question of ‘what are we going to do with this pile of material?’ We need to continue thinking and investing in waste minimisation.

“We must continue to make incremental changes. The Councils, while maintaining and developing waste management, are doing so in a world where costs of disposal will only continue to rise, financially and environmentally.”

“Good waste management is about managing the inputs, not just the outputs, through recycling and refuse stations - Councils cannot do it alone,” Councillor Edgar concluded.

Read the Plan and Have Your Say

The proposed Joint Waste Management and Minimisation Plan is out for consultation with submissions accepted up to 31 January 2012.

• Read the Proposed Joint Waste Management and Minimisation Plan (pdf, 894 KB)
• Make an online submission
  

Copies of the Plan can be found on the Nelson City and Tasman District Councils’ websites and at offices and libraries.

Tips for waste minimisation:

The question is often asked ‘what can we do?’:

• Ask the simple question: ‘do I really need this?’;
• Choose products that have the least packaging;
• Read sustainable living tips.