Wellington Region Working Together For The Environment

For the first time, Wellington region's councils have formally committed to working together to reduce environmental harm with the adoption of a joint Waste Management and Minimisation Plan WMMP.

Kapiti, Masterton, Carterton District Councils and Upper Hutt, Wellington, Hutt, South Wairarapa District Council and Porirua City Councils have all adopted the joint plan.

The Waste Minimisation Act 2008 requires all councils to develop a WMMP and the eight councils are the first in the country to achieve this on a regional basis says Mayor Wayne Guppy, Chair of the Wellington Mayoral Forum.

"We have saved the region $500,000 by collaborating and producing the one joint plan instead of eight separate ones. This first plan is a key starting point for what we expect to be an enduring commitment. It builds on the considerable common ground between the councils on how to best address waste issues."

Mayor Guppy says the region's Mayors agree that sustainability is vital not only for social and environmental reasons but for economic success too

"It's increasingly important to use the resources we have in a more coordinated fashion. The plan sets an ambitious work programme for managing and reducing waste, while recognising the need for financial prudence and to get better information upon which to base future decisions."

Porirua City Council led the development of the Plan which includes three parts: the Strategy, a Regional Action Plan and Individual Council Action Plans.

PCC Asset Management and Operations General Manager Peter Bailey says the collaborative model used to develop the WMMP will continue in the roll out of the Regional Action Plan.

Mr Bailey says the following activities are included in the Regional Action Plan:

• development of a joint solid waste bylaw

• explore shared service contracts/agreements

• development of a Regional Waste Education Strategy

• development of a subsequent regional Waste Management and Minimisation Plan

• improved data collection – e.g. joint commissioning of Solid Waste Analysis Protocols (SWAPs)

• Waste Minimisation Fund (WMF) bids

• investigate and agree a process for considering waste projects for regional funding

• advocate for enhanced packaging design controls and extended producer responsibility (EPR) for packaging materials

• investigate and enable clean fill licensing regulation where beneficial

• investigate landfill pricing signal/disincentive

•investigate strategies to encourage industry involvement in resource recovery

• investigate council organic waste collection system to complement processing system

• investigate a consistent policy approach to kerbside collection services

• investigate regional opportunities for management of polystyrene

• investigation of further options for beneficial recovery of sewage sludge / bio-solids

• examine options for special wastes and hazardous wastes, related to environmental harm

• investigate Rationalisation of Landfill Policy

• examine alternative governance arrangements for landfills and / or solid waste services.

"These actions, combined with the actions in the each council’s action plan, provide a comprehensive approach to waste management and minimisation, and a platform for initiating a regional response to waste management in Wellington region," Mr Bailey says.

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