To: |
Local Government and Environment Committee
Bowen House, Parliament Buildings, WELLINGTON
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From: |
WasteBusters Trust Canterbury
PO Box 323
Ashburton
Phone: 03 3089998
Fax: fax 03 3089989
[email protected]
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Date: |
1st September 2006
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Submission: |
To the Waste Minimisation (Solids) Bill
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Statement: |
I wish to be heard on this submission and would like to invite the Select Committee to come and visit the Ashburton Resource Recovery park and spend 3 - 4 hours inspecting the range of processes underway from demolition materials to composting and recycling products for the world markets.
We would also like to invite the Select Committee to attend and experience a Wastebusters school classroom session delivering - knowledge - understanding - action.
Sheryl Stivens
General manager |
Organisation
Overview
Establishing a Waste Minimisation Authority
Waste Control Authorities
Education Programmes
National Campaigns
Prohibition on disposal of materials
Waste Disposal Levy
Extended Producer Responsibility
Summary
The concept of WasteBusters evolved in 1994 when Anita Coghill and Sheryl Stivens were invited to participate in community consultation with Ashburton District Council to develop a solid waste management strategy. Both women shared a vision for the future of establishing and promoting waste diversion systems from the school children of the district up through the community. They began working as volunteers, visiting the 28 schools in the district and developing a comprehensive waste minimisation programme. By 1996 WasteBusters had negotiated a contractual agreement with the Ashburton District Council to deliver waste minimisation education to the community. This contract and schools programme, which is continuously updated, is now used by a number of communities and Councils throughout New Zealand. In 1997 the Selwyn District Council contracted WasteBusters Trust Canterbury Trust to extend their community Waste Minimisation Programme into the neighbouring Selwyn District. A Waste Exchange Business Programme was also developed for the two districts under contract to Environment Canterbury and this continues to be extended throughout the region.
In 2006 WasteBusters Canterbury is a charitable " more than profit" Trust working in partnership with councils, community and businesses to deliver a range of Zero Waste education and services and employing 28 people plus a team of dedicated volunteers including a very professional Trust Board.
The social benefits of this community owned resource recovery operation are immense and ongoing. The support from local businesses is not only essential for cost effectiveness, especially transport of materials, but makes this a model for true sustainable community development.
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WasteBusters Canterbury agree in principle that legislation is required in New Zealand to ensure that the packaging and materials / products being imported or manufactured and sold are reusable, recyclable and are safe for food. ( not PVC)
We are concerned that the bill appears to be written as a one size fits all and does not acknowledge the good work underway particularly in some rural areas where communities and local authorities are working together to implement their zero waste policies with astounding results.
These areas urgently require funding particularly capital funds for the technology and equipment to process materials locally wherever possible due to escalating transport costs. E.g. glass, food waste, We cannot see how the Bill in its current form will provide this support.
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Wastebusters Canterbury are concerned that the act may create another layer of bureaucracy and take more precious funds away from reducing waste to landfill.
New Zealand already has a Ministry for the Environment whose role could be extended. Even better why not invest in the pro-active work that has been undertaken by Zero Waste NZ Trust. This organization has developed a good relationship with local authorities and has even convinced them to adopt zero waste policies with very little funding. Zero waste is now an international movement including Zero Waste Australia, Zero Waste South Korea and Zero Waste international. Zero Waste NZ Trust is already established and could be contracted to undertake various tasks as a national body.
N.B The Sustainable Management Fund allocates millions of dollars annually largely to consultancy companies to write another document around what could be done.
New Zealand local Councils and their communities lack the capital funds to invest in the equipment required such as glass crushers and in-vessel composting systems and export balers and there is no fund available for this purpose.
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Regulating local authorities in this way may undermine the good work already underway where local Councils and communities are working together to minimize waste and implement their zero waste policy.
The key is to work with and invest in good working models and support these to continue to develop and to partner with other communities to assist them with implementing resource recovery services and education.
Education is essential - delivered to schools, businesses and communities with a goal of zero waste to landfill. Ideally councils contract education to community enterprises.
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In areas where there is a local zero waste Schools Education Programme in place (e.g. Ashburton, Selwyn, Mackenzie Districts) the kids teach their parents and the community readily adopts new waste minimization initiatives because they understand why. Yet District Councils throughout NZ are struggling to finance schools and community waste minimization education programmes.
If the levy is introduced, it is imperative that each local Council has access to funds for a comprehensive schools and community zero waste education programme that is delivered by visiting experts on a contract basis.
Why not leave it to the teachers? Because the students will learn so much more from trained facilitators who are experts in their field. Waste minimization systems require ongoing support provided by trained professionals, not by busy teachers with little or no knowledge of composting, worm farming etc.
An investment in professionally delivered, comprehensive schools and community zero waste education will lead to a decrease in waste to landfill in years to come. Ashburton has such a programme (for 10 years now) and this community is building the national trend and experiencing a real decrease in waste to landfill.
Funds from the levy, if it is introduced, need to be made available for each and every District Council to fund a similar programme, ideally on a contract basis with a local community enterprise.
The community is the only one with a vested interest in waste minimisation - it is our environment that we care about.
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National campaigns can be such things as "tops off bottles and keep it clean", "take your own bag to the supermarket" etc. Further detail for recycling requires local programmes as markets differ from district to district even here in Canterbury.
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This is essential and should include batteries, e-waste, fluorescent tubes, treated timber and ultimately foodwaste & organic waste.
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A waste disposal levy would provide funds for capital equipment e.g. invessel compost units.
We are concerned that this fund will be hijacked by the Government, consultancy companies, waste companies (admin costs) and will not provide the capital costs / funding required locally to handle & process recovered resources in rural communities.
An independent board need to administer the funds. e.g. glass, foodwaste.
Resource recovery is an enormous industry estimated to be as big as the wine industry and work has been underway which Wastebusters have played an active role in for over 2 years to develop NZQA qualifications for the resource recovery industry.
Waste - careless or thriftless procedure by which something is lost or spoiled (1908 Dictionary)
For all other species the discards from one creature became the resource of another. We humans are the only creatures on this earth who create 'waste' as such.
The thriftiness of our ancestors has very quickly been reversed in 2 to 3 generations, with an incredible drive to clean up our own backyards while fouling up the beautiful planet on which we live.
At least 50 percent of waste is organic. When organic waste is mixed up with batteries, steel cans and other materials in a landfill it begins to putrefy and produces poisonous liquid which leaches into groundwater and soil and gives up to 300 years of contamination. That is why the food scraps thrown into rubbish bins on a daily basis are the primary contaminant in landfills.
Putting organic waste into landfills to then retrieve the gas / energy is polluting and not sustainable.
We need to replace a percentage of chemical fertilizers with good quality compost to maintain New Zealand's leading edge as an agricultural producer and save our increasingly polluted lakes, rivers and streams.
There are now good markets for most any good clean pile of plastics, paper, metals and even glass if it is processed for the end market. What is required is capital funds for investment and producer responsibility.
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This legislation is essential for NZ and already exists in many other countries.
Business is booming overseas where Extended Producer Responsibility is legislated and container deposits on bottles exists. As with all costs business passes the cost onto consumers e.g. plastic shopping bags are estimated to cost $25m per year in New Zealand and the supermarkets give them away whilst adding this cost onto everyone's groceries.
Extended producer responsibility is essential so we don't end up with polystyrene meat trays, e-waste, gas cylinders, glass bottles, plastic supermarket bags and food/organic waste causing problems in our local areas and ever increasing rates for rural communities some of which have 1 million visitors per year and under 30,000 ratepayers to carry the cost of resource recovery education and services.
Littering laws are essential and need to be enforced. Container deposits would fix the litter problem and provide funding for remote rural communities in popular tourist areas to deal with the vast volumes of waste. It would also stop the increasing flow of badly packaged and non-marked containers starting to flow into NZ
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For the Zero Waste journey to be successful we need everyone equipped with the knowledge and understanding to take positive action in their daily lives to make a difference and realize that every little bit counts. It's a TEAM effort, and together everyone achieves more!
- Each and every community in NZ needs a vibrant, professionally delivered zero waste schools and community education programme - funded centrally and delivered locally under contracts to our District Councils.
- Each and every community in NZ requires the equipment and resources to process waste in their local areas i.e. glass crushers, plastics balers, putrescibles waste composters, sewerage sludge bio digesters, etc etc etc. Rural communities simply cannot afford to pay for this waste minimization infrastructure yet NZ cannot achieve zero waste, or even significantly decrease waste to rapidly filling landfills, unless it is urgently in place via funds to District Councils.
- The best and most equitable way to create a central pool of funds is via Container Deposit Legislation.
- The best and most obvious choice re who administers these funds is Zero Waste NZ Trust.
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