AUCKLAND CITY COUNCIL

MEDIA RELEASE

2 April 2007

Council lobbies for environmental change

Auckland City Council’s focus on sustainability continues as it resolves to lobby the government and the Auckland Regional Council for improvements to air and water quality.

The council released “Our Changing Environment 2004 - 2005” late last year as part of its ongoing assessment of the environmental health of our city.

That report highlighted improvements in terms of heritage protection, an increased focus on energy efficiency and greater uptake of public transport.

It also identified three areas of concern. These were the impact of vehicle emissions on air quality; zinc contamination of water sources; and the amount of food and recyclable waste sent to landfill.

The Environment, Heritage and Urban Form Committee has voted to follow up on these matters by advocating for policy changes that seek to improve environmental outcomes.

The committee chairperson, Councillor Christine Caughey, says efforts to curb the degradation of the city’s environment must be encouraged.

“The council must be a strong advocate for the protection of the city’s environment to ensure that we leave future generations with healthy surroundings.

“We’re also committed to a sustainability programme and part of creating a sustainable future is recognising the importance and value that natural assets such as air, water and soil contribute to our quality of life.”

The key areas the council will focus on are:

- lobbying the government and Auckland Regional Council to promote policies to improve emission standards of the general car fleet

- advocating to the Auckland Regional Council to put in place mechanisms to reduce the level of heavy metals in stormwater which feeds into the city’s waterways

- calling on the Auckland Regional Council to increase the number of air monitoring stations around the city

- continuing efforts to minimise waste to landfill

- committing to improved information systems for the management of contaminated land.

Ms Caughey says the council has already made significant efforts in its bid to reduce waste going to landfill, with a target of zero waste to landfill by 2015.

Work is underway to improve the recycling collection and to build a materials recovery centre to make better use of recycled material such as garden waste, construction and demolition waste, and inorganic items.

The council’s next report examining the state of the city’s environment will be released later this year.

ENDS

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