A game-changing $1.2 million rubbish facility for building and business waste is coming to New Plymouth District. The New Plymouth District Council (NPDC) will open a waste sorting facility on Colson Road for business waste in the first half of next year. The Ministry for the Environment is paying $420,550 with the rest coming from NPDC’s Solid Waste fund and user charges.

NPDC Councillor Richard Handley says this new waste sorting facility for business will make a huge dent in the amount of rubbish our district generates.

“Currently, 60% or about 45,000 tonnes of the rubbish we send to the landfill is commercial and industrial waste. We’re talking about skips of building materials heading to the dump and we’re aiming to divert 5,000 tonnes of those materials – reuse and recycle them through local businesses – in the first year the commercial waste sorting facility is open, as we strive for Zero Waste 2040. It’s got huge potential and will create six new jobs,” says Councillor Handley.

Businesses will be able to bring sorted and unsorted waste to the new facility, where staff will sort out items that can be reused or recycled, such as quality native timbers, fittings, fixtures and building materials, and on-sell or give them to local reuse businesses. The facility will also look to progressively establish new markets for some materials that have not been able to be recycled locally before, such as plasterboard, tyres and polystyrene.

Common barriers for local businesses when it comes to improving how they handle their waste are cost, not knowing what materials can be recycled, or not producing enough waste to find viable solutions on their own.

A similar facility exists in Marlborough and has diverted 30% of waste from landfill.

Fast facts

• NPDC’s zero-waste initiative has the goal of sending no waste from New Plymouth District residents and businesses to landfill by 2040.
• In 2020/21, New Plymouth District sent 25,000 tonnes of waste to landfill.
• An additional 30% of waste to landfill from our district doesn’t go through council facilities.
• NPDC is spending $2.4m on Planting Our Place: planting 24ha of indigenous plants over 20 years to increase our indigenous biodiversity and sequester carbon in urban areas.
• We’re also spending $1m for fleet and wider low-emissions transport options.
• $150,000 each year for three years has been confirmed to implement the Climate Action Framework.

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