Kaikoura District Council

Location: Canterbury, South Island
Population: 3,500

Kaikoura, a small town with a population of 3,500, is nestled on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. A world famous feeding ground for giant sperm whales and home to dolphins and seals, Kaikoura's marine life attracts over 1 million tourists every year, making tourism the backbone of its economy. But although Kaikoura is unique for its stunning environment, it is also rather special for another reason - its solid waste management policy.

In November 1998 Kaikoura District Council formally adopted a Zero Waste policy, with the aim to of acheiving zero waste (or as near as possible) by 2015. Recycling facilities had been in existence within the district for 12 months prior to this.

In accordance with the Zero Waste policy, in July 1999 Council withdrew the contract for the rubbish collection and contracted Wastebusters Trust Kaikoura to provide a domestic kerbside collection for recyclable materials. In October 1999, Wastebusters Trust embarked on a commercial pick up of recyclable materials. This has proved very popular and has made a significant dent on the waste stream. Later the pick up of recyclable materials has also been extended to rural pick up points and tourist recycling bins have been placed around the district.

In 2000 when the contract for running the landfill came up for renewal, Innovative Waste Kaikoura were awarded the contract to manage the Landfill and Recycling operations. IWK is a charitable company, started as a joint venture between Kaikoura District Council (who own 49%) and Wastebusters Trust Kaikoura (Who own 51%).

Innovative Waste Kaikoura (IWK) run the kerbside recycling collection and manage the Resource Recovery Centre (RRC) where the public are encouraged to drop off all reusable and recyclable materials including glass, plastic, paper, cardboard, metals (light and heavy), timber and car batteries. It is at the RRC where the recyclable materials are processed and baled ready for the markets, a second hand shop collects and sells all sorts of reusable items, and a composting facility processes greenwaste into wood chip piles ready for resale and for composting. IWK have also developed an in-vessel composting unit for greenwaste. A compactor has been locally designed and built to compact 6:1 and enable selective landfilling (compacting residual waste in cells for future recovery).

The district is enjoying the positive spin offs of an integrated waste management strategy that focuses on the financial and social benefits as well as the environmental benefits.

The most significant social spin off has been the creation of five full time and four part time jobs at the RRC.

A customer satisfaction survey conducted by the council showed that 90% of despondence were highly supportive of the Innovative Wastes operations, while in a previous survey 60% of despondence wanted to see more money being spent on waste minimization. A further and more in-depth survey showed that on average 91% of the Kaikoura community recycle before.

There is ongoing education across all sectors of the community including waste audits, school visits, and media campaigns. Many local tourist operators have not only come to realize the financial virtues of separating their waste, but the positive image of being environmentally responsible that this gives to the many eco tourists who visit Kaikoura.

The local Seaward Lions hold a Recycled Art Show every year; this has an enormous impact on raising waste minimisation awareness. Any events like this place emphasis on recycling all bottles and cans from the bar. This is also extended to Seafest, an annual wine, food and music celebration that attracts over 5000 people. Local sports clubs such as the squash club and bowling greens are also encouraged to separate their waste.

The local High School is aiming to becoming one of the country's first zero waste High Schools.

Innovative Waste Kaikoura Ltd - see related pages for background.

For further information contact Ian Challenger, Environmental Development Officer at 03 319 5026 or ian.challenger@kaikoura.govt.nz .