Residents of Dunedin's central business district and South Dunedin retail area could get a collection service for recyclables under a new plan to manage and minimise the city's waste.
The Dunedin City Council's kerbside collection service for household recycling does not presently extend to those areas, although the council receives regular inquiries from residents requesting such a service.
The new plan suggests investigating extending the recyclables collection service to the central and south Dunedin CBDs and developing a collection model within five years.
A copy of the proposed plan notes the trend towards multi-unit dwellings and properties with private road access could make providing collection services difficult as access for service vehicles was restricted.
It also suggests investigating over the next few years options for dealing with landfill after the closure of the Waikouaiti landfill in 2016 - it is to be replaced with a transfer station - and the potential closure of a private landfill at Fairfield in 2018, when its resource consent expires.
The plan notes a lack of information from the private provider (who may opt to transport waste out of the city after the landfill's potential closure) does hamper the council's efforts to strategically plan for the future.
The plan also indicates the council would continue over the next few years to develop council-owned resource recovery centres at Green Island and Waikouaiti, and provide outlying communities with drop-off collection points, to be managed by the community, for material that could in other places go to a resource recovery centre.
The council would continue to assess beneficial ways of using sludges and bio-solids and investigate options for collecting hazardous household waste chemicals, plus continue efforts to educate and engage the community in minimising waste, as it works towards a zero-waste vision for the city.
It would also develop and/or deliver a cleaner production programme to help businesses to operate more efficiently and reduce waste.
The details of the proposed plan, drafted by a steering group including Mayor Dave Cull, councillors and council staff in consultation with industry representatives and stakeholders, will be considered by councillors tomorrow and, if agreed, will be released for public consultation in July.
Waste facts
• 716kg waste per year per person is sent to Dunedin landfills (based on 2010-11 figures), compared with a national figure of 575kg per person - probably because of Dunedin's comparatively low landfill charges.
• Since 2007-08, less rubble has been dumped at the Green Island landfill, but twice as much plastic and a third more paper and cardboard.
• The percentage of glass dumped has halved; the percentage of nappies and sanitary products has tripled and the percentage of textiles has more than doubled.
• 87,500 tonnes of waste was disposed of at council landfills in 2011, expected to increase to more than 90,000 tonnes at the Green Island landfill alone by 2031-32.
• Amount of recyclables has continued to increase since the introduction of wheelie bins in late February 2011.
Source: DCC
