The four Rs – reduction, reuse, recovery and recycling – will be the focus of spending for the Marlborough District Council’s Waste Disposal Levy in 2021/22.

The Council’s Assets & Services Committee last week approved the spending allocation put forward by Solid Waste Manager Alec McNeil which outlined a series of waste disposal initiatives.

The Waste Disposal Levy is set by Central Government and is applied to all waste entering the Bluegums Landfill site in Blenheim.

In 2021/22 $330,000 is expected to be returned to the Council. “This must be spent on initiatives to promote or achieve waste minimisation which are in accordance with our current Waste Management and Minimisation Plan 2021-27 (WMMP),” said Mr McNeil.

“The intent of the levy is ultimately to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill and the income generated has to be targeted for this,” he said. “We will split ours into 20% for reduction projects, 15% on reuse projects, half on recovery projects, and recycling projects will get 15%,” said Mr McNeil.

Specifically, this will include the following:

Reduction – recruitment of a fixed term waste reduction facilitator for an initial 12 months to work across the business and community sector. This role will be specifically targeted at illegal dumping and littering reduction at source;

Reuse – providing support to the Repurposing of the Unwanted Household Goods project;

Recovery – continued support for the Resource Recovery Centre. The funding allocation of $165,000 will be used to pay down capex investment associated with the Centre;

Recycling – development of tender documents for the contract renewal of the kerbside collection and other recycling collection systems, including information around alternative collection methods, across the district.

The Waste Disposal Levy increased from $10 to $20 (GST exclusive) per tonne in July 2021. Further increases have been signalled from Government which are anticipated to result in the levy increasing to $60 per tonne by 2024.

The programme of waste disposal initiatives set down is subject to approval by the full Council.

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