Making the most of Waikato waste

Environment Waikato is to start talking to other local authorities and business about how to best minimise waste in the region and exploit major opportunities from recycling and waste processing.

At yesterday’s environment committee meeting in Hamilton, councillors asked staff to facilitate discussions on better waste management with industry and other councils.

“We think there are potentially a wide range of opportunities to both better protect the environment and make significant commercial gains through more efficient recycling and waste processing,” said Environment Waikato’s water, air, waste programme manager Viv Smith.

“With consideration being given to more Government funding of waste initiatives through levies in the Waste Minimisation (Solid) Bill, now is a very good time for all of the Waikato’s regional and inter-regional waste players to be talking to each other about future opportunities.

“Environment Waikato will now be moving to facilitate a deeper and more wide-ranging discussion on the issues involved,” she said.

A staff report presented to the committee - based on advice from consultant Chris Purchas of Sinclair Knight Merz - showed that while more material was being recycled or diverted from landfills on a per person basis, the actual amount of material still going into Waikato landfills annually was not reducing.

Also, the Waikato region overall was behind the pace when it came to meeting New Zealand Waste Strategy targets for diverting waste from landfills. Currently just 60 per cent of garden waste was diverted, compared to a target of 95 per cent by 2010, while only 22 per cent of construction waste was diverted compared to a target of 50 per cent by next year.

However, the report noted:
· increased use by councils of recycling bins and composting facilities
· the potential for economies of scale through co-operative business arrangements in the waste area
· industry’s increasing willingness to view waste as lost value and to use a “green” image for market advantage.

And New Zealand’s increased focus on sustainability meant “waste is no longer considered as an isolated issue but needs to be considered in light of economic development, energy, climate change and…water management”, the report said.

Taking a “birds eye” regional approach to waste management was the best way to facilitate environmental and commercial opportunities from better waste management, the report said.

More green waste collection offered the biggest opportunities if barriers to collecting and using garden and wood waste in composting and biofuels could be overcome. “Similar potential exists for other organic wastes such as food and other processing wastes and biosolids.”

Construction and demolition wastes offered the next most potential for recovery, with several Waikato companies able to process timber, plasterboard and concrete waste.

Recommendations included:
· carrying out an organic waste options study
· establishing a major materials recovery facility
· councils helping develop markets for recovered materials
· greater collaboration between councils and business on waste initiatives, including a public/private infrastructure investment plan.

“Waste management and recycling businesses are at the coal face of waste minimization and will respond to opportunities provided, facilitated or highlighted by waste generators and local authorities,” the report said.

The council’s policy committee yesterday ratified a staff submission to the select committee on the supplementary order paper of the Waste Minimisation (Solids) Bill, which is looking at waste levies.

The Sinclair Knight Merz report is available online at http://www.ew.govt.nz/publications/technicalreports/tr0744.htm