Zero Waste: Rodney District Council
Location: Auckland
Population: 75,766
Rodney District covers an area of 2,475 square kilometres, which can be divided into three sub-areas:
The southwestern part of the District includes the communities of Helensville and Kumeu/Huapai in addition to the smaller settlements of Riverhead and Waimauku. Because of its proximity to Auckland, lifestyle blocks are very popular here and horticulture, winemaking and forestry are also important to the local economy. The Kaipara Harbour is the largest enclosed harbour in the Southern Hemisphere.
Historically, the Hibiscus Coast grew up as a retirement area and as a holiday "playground" for Aucklanders. The many beautiful and safe beaches on the Coast are a big attraction. At Gulf Harbour on the Whangaparaoa Peninsula, there is a 969-berth marina and an international golf course. The Hibiscus Coast is now an established and sought after urban area with a population of 28,390, but it still has a higher than "normal" proportion of retired folk living within it.
The northern part of the District contains the Warkworth, Wellsford and Snells/Algies communities and there are a number of smaller coastal and inland settlements. Lifestyle blocks, retirement housing and holiday baches are features of the north but primary production (including dairying) is still very significant, and forestry occupies about 29,579 hectares.
By 2016 Rodney expects to be home to 102,000 people - 30,000 more than are here now.
This phenomenon of rapid growth is occurring for two main reasons:
- as a natural consequence of the huge growth of the Auckland region;
- because of the proximity of the District to metropolitan Auckland, the attractiveness of the natural landscape and in particular the 1,019 kms of attractive coastline with its many safe swimming beaches - factors which together offer a unique lifestyle.
Zero Waste Plan
In July 2002, Rodney District Council adopted a policy of Zero Waste Plan detailing the programme of initiatives to meet our target of zero waste to landfill by 2020.
The Zero Waste Plan is the first Zero Waste solid waste management plan to be adopted by a local authority in New Zealand. The scope of change needed to move towards Zero Waste is large and there is a lot to be done. In order to sort out all possible initiatives and work through them in a systematic way, the Council has arranged the actions into five key action areas. Working in these five key action areas will help ensure a balanced programme to successfully bring about long-term progress towards zero waste.
After discussing all possible initiatives within the five key action areas, a total of 50 initiatives were identified by Council. These initiatives were ranked according to a number of criteria including environmental, social and economic.
The initiatives include:
- Composting
- Landfill bans
- Awards for waste minimisation
- Buy recycled and recyclable campaign
- Waste analysis data
- Kerbside recycling
- Container deposits
- Educational courses
- Festivals and events
- Waste operator licensing/reporting
- Recycling drop-off facilities/free stores
The waste stream is broken into five major components and the proposed actions in each of the five key areas are listed in the Plan. The expected impact of these actions on waste volumes to landfill is also shown.
For further information contact Rodney District Council on 09 426 5169 or go to www.rodney.govt.nz .