Space is an issue when it comes to recycling in central
Queenstown, businesses say.
Queenstown Lakes District Council solid waste manager Stefan
Borowy said while it would be beneficial to have different
colour sorting bins for bottles and an organic waste bin,
comments the council had received were that space was
limited.
"One of the comments we are getting is that there is not a
lot of space to provide different bins for different glass
... if we were to provide a green waste receptacle, that
space could potentially be used for a revenue stream for the
business," Mr Borowy said.
He said the council was looking into waste storage for new
buildings as part of the district plan.
As for household recycling, there was a problem with
contamination which he attributed partly to the transient
population.
"During the ski season, we see a slight increase in the
number of contaminated bins."
Because organic or green waste made up 30% of the total waste
which went into landfill, the council was continuing to
promote home composting systems and the general diversion
percentage of landfill waste was continuing to rise.
The council was also looking at ways to reduce the amount of
construction waste which went into landfill.
One option was to provide containers at the transfer station.
Another option was to encourage designers, architects and
builders to reduce their amount of waste.
"Under the building code, there are no requirements for,
first of all, a waste minimisation plan," Mr Borowy said.
The central Government put emphasis on making building as
simple as possible, he said, and the encouragement to reduce
construction waste "is not one that provides any teeth".
"There's obviously a dollar figure - if you minimise waste
you are obviously going to save money - but maybe some
builders just pass that cost on to the owners.""At the
moment, there is no building framework [for construction
recycling].
"The only way would be to include it in a bylaw ... it would
have to go through the community and they would decide if
that is beneficial."
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