Zero Waste: Nelson City Council

Location: Tasman Bay, South Island
Population: 40,278

Nelson has it all: more sun than any other New Zealand region; a landscape covering wide plains, clear rivers, golden sandy beaches, hills and mountains; enough visitors to support a wide choice of cafes, entertainment and outdoor activities, and a strong economic base in forestry, horticulture and fishing. All this makes Nelson a great place to live and work.

In September 1999 Nelson City Council adopted a Zero Waste policy, and a long term waste reduction strategy was developed with input from Council staff and councillors as well as representatives from the community.

The initial aim of the strategy is to divert all reusable and recyclable waste to markets and end users by 2005.

The five initiatives to accomplish this are listed below. Each one includes actions, targets, and outlines how its effectiveness will be measured. The budget of grant money and staff time is also included.

The first five initiatives to define and reduce waste

• Waste audit - fortnightly audits of waste going directly to York Valley Landfill and the Transfer Station over a one year period (June 2001 - May 2002) has established baseline information on the materials being disposed of to the landfill.
  
  The results showed the total of 37,776,421 tonnes was made up of:
  
  ORGANICS: 29.6% (garden waste: 11.44%; kitchen scraps: 10.26%; offal: 7.70%; apple pulp: 0.41%)
  
  CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS: 11.33% (concrete: 0.60%; gib/ plaster: 1.72%; hardfill: 0.38%; soil: 0.44%; wood: 8.19%)
  
  PAPER: 24.01% (paper: 12.38%; cardboard: 11.63%)
  
  METAL: 6.11%
  
  GLASS: 3.04%
  
  PLASTIC: 15.90%
  
  TEXTILES: 1.51% (clothes: 0.95%; carpet: 0.31%; rope netting: 0.25%)
  
  HAZARDOUS: 0.11% (only asbestos accepted)

• Landfill costs - establishing comparable costs for landfill disposal and various recycling options will allow both Councillors and the community to be aware of the financial costs and benefits of any waste reduction projects, which will assist decision making.
  
  The contract for operating the landfill has recently been tendered and let. It includes reference to the Council’s zero waste goals and signals the Council’s intention to reduce waste to landfill as much as possible.

• Recycling and composting - extending the current recycling service to include recycling of paper and plastics, and encouraging people to use the composting centre and to home compost, will raise awareness and reduce volumes to landfill.
  
  A recycling coordinator was employed for one year to set up a comprehensive and long term recycling service in Nelson. As a result a joint venture between two community groups with environment and employment goals have formed a company to deliver this service. The new company is working towards beginning a kerbside collection in November 2002. It will establish a memorandum of understanding with both Nelson City Council and Tasman District Council to deliver a range of waste minimisation services.

• Changes to Council’s operation to reduce waste - this could include reduced wastage of paper, use of recycled products, and where possible, amending contracts to include waste reduction considerations.
  
  Paper makes up almost all of the waste generated by the Council. Some of this is now being collected and recycled. A more comprehensive collection system is being set up, which will involve all staff.
  
  Food waste is collected separately in the cafeteria. Some of it is processed on site in the Council’s worm farm and the rest is composted off-site.

• Waste education - working with businesses, schools and the community to encourage them to reduce waste. This will be most effective when expanded recycling services exist.
  
  Funding has been provided to one of the community groups involved in the joint venture company for the development of appropriate services to deliver effective waste reduction and recycling to commerce and industry.

New Zealand Waste Strategy

In response to the production of the New Zealand Waste Strategy, Nelson City Council staff have evaluated the actions required of this Council to align itself with the strategy. The most significant new action for the 2002/03 year is to review the Council’s waste management plan. This will be done in partnership with North Shore City Council’s waste consultants who have applied to the Sustainable Management Fund to work on a model waste management plan which other councils can adapt.

We are also working towards integrating waste reduction with other environmental objectives such as air quality, energy efficiency and water conservation.

A home composting and worm farming pamphlet promotes a $15 subsidy on compost and worm bins bought by Nelson residents.

A very successful re-use shop run by the Nelson Recycling Centre operates alongside the transfer station. A range of recyclables are able to be dropped off there, including cardboard, glass and oil.

A 2000 survey of 400 Nelson residents indicated that 76% of people considered waste reduction and recycling to be very important, with another 19% judging it to be fairly important. We were pleased to learn that 65% of residents composted their kitchen and garden waste at home, and believe the $15 subsidy on compost bins and worm farms will have contributed to this figure.

A 2002/03 residents survey will find out more about residents’ approaches to composting and disposal of garden waste, and ask how willing they are to put out rinsed recyclables for a free kerbside collection.

Download Nelson’s Zero Waste Strategy here (pdf, 71KB).

For further information contact Brian Walsh on 03 546 0375.