To reduce waste going to landfill and minimise future cost increases, the South Taranaki District Council (STDC) is asking the community what they think about a proposal to change the size of their kerbside wheelie bins, move to a fortnightly pick up and introduce a food waste collection bin.
STDC infrastructure services group manager Herbert Denton says the proposal is part of the Council’s Waste Management and Minimisation Plan (WMMP) which is currently out for public feedback.
“Managing our waste is not cheap. Last year it cost $5.5 million to run our waste management services and over the next six years it’s only going to get more expensive, due to increases on the Government waste levy and rising costs for the kerbside collection service for things such as fuel and new collection vehicles.”
Denton says the $50 Government levy for each tonne of waste sent to landfill rises to $60 on 1 July 2024. South Taranaki currently sends 13,639 tonnes of waste to landfill which means the Council would have to pay the Government almost $820,000 in waste levies alone.
"The good news is that we can do something about this and save money if we act now," says Denton.
“We know that up to 60% of what people put in their general waste bins could be recycled or composted. If we could divert that amount from the 3,632 tonnes of waste collected from the kerbside, we could save $130,000 on the cost of Government levies alone,” he says.
Currently South Taranaki residents send around 120kg of waste to landfill per person each year, which is 30kg more than New Plymouth residents who only send 90kg of waste to landfill. Denton says part of the reason for this is that New Plymouth’s waste is only collected fortnightly compared to South Taranaki’s weekly collection, and they also collect food waste.
“The benefits of Council’s proposal are twofold - to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill and to keep cost increases to a minimum."
"By moving to a fortnightly collection and sending less waste to landfill, we can significantly reduce our emissions footprint and reduce the amount of Government waste levies and kerbside collection rates we will have to pay. This will reduce future cost increases on the annual kerbside rubbish and recycling targeted rate by around $75,” he says.
“Ultimately the amount of waste we currently generate and send to landfill is no longer environmentally or economically sustainable and we must change what we do.”
Consultation closes on 11 October.
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