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Whakatane District Council
Location: Bay of Plenty, North Island
Population: 32,000
The Whakatane District is home to 32,000 people with strong ties to both land and water. The rural plains boast some of the most fertile land in New Zealand, while easy access to both lakes and sea lends the area to excellent fishing and water sports.
With minimal heavy industry in the district, the waste stream is predominantly domestic in nature.
There are currently two open consented landfills in the district that receive the district's waste, mainly through the servicing of mobile garbage bins. Controlled access to the landfills is available to the general public seven days per week.
In May 2000, the Whakatane District Council officially adopted a Zero Waste to Landfill Policy to augment its current Solid Waste Management Plan, adopted in 1996. Analysis of the Solid Waste Management Plan revealed its goals to be directly in line with those of the Zero Waste philosophy, hence the adoption.
This policy changed Council's (future solid waste disposal) direction from the establishment of a new landfill to the development of a $1.6 million Resource Recovery Centre (RRC).
The establishment of the RRC will alter Whakatane's current refuse and recycling collection system to maximise the separation of recyclables at kerbside.
Currently approximately 10,000 properties in the district have a 240 litre wheelie bin and 9,000 also receive a kerbside recycling collection for paper, cardboard, glass, tin cans and aluminium cans.
Every property currently using a 240 litre bin will receive a new 60 litre bin in July 2003. The new 60 litre bin will be for the weekly collection of rubbish and the 240 litre bin will become a mixed commodity recycling container to be emptied every two weeks. With this change of service, all kinds of plastic, ie, sheet, wrap, bags and containers will be included in the recycling service.
The rubbish from the 60 litre bins will be delivered directly to the landfill while the recycling (240 litre bins) will be delivered to the new RRC where it will be manually sorted (using conveyor systems), processed, stored and passed on for re-use.
The landfill will be closed to the public and all non kerbside collected material (greenwaste, car bodies, bulky items, etc) will have to be delivered to the RRC, where it will be sorted for re-use to maximise the reduction in rubbish going to the landfill.
The RRC will also operate an on-site waste minimisation education centre for use by schools and interested community groups.
With these changes to the collection system and the establishment of the RRC, it is expected that waste to landfill will initially be reduced by 50%. Further waste separation initiatives are planned to further increase this reduction.
The Council is actively promoting education policies in the district's primary and intermediate schools with 20 schools being supplied with worm-farm and waste minimisation programmes at no cost to the school.
With the introduction of the Waste Exchange to the Bay of Plenty, it is Council's intention to further that process and assist businesses to instigate waste reduction policies through the district. Cleaner Production programmes for business are planned to start in January 2003.
Education and the availability of alternatives are the main focuses of the Whakatane District Council policies aimed toward zero waste.
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