Last drive for submissions for kerbside services and annual plan

Published on 29 April 2022

Whanganui District Council policy manager, Elise Broadbent, chatting to Annette McCormack at Gonville Library

Whanganui District Council staff and councillors will be at the Whanganui River Markets this Saturday, 30 April in a last drive to gather submissions on kerbside recycling and food waste and the council’s annual plan.

The council’s policy manager, Elise Broadbent, says submission numbers are tracking well, with around 200 people putting in a formal submission so far.

“We’re really pleased so many people have taken a moment out of their day to let us know what they think. This is the kind of work that sets the future direction of Whanganui and we’d encourage everyone to be part of the conversation.”

Whanganui District councillors voted last year to bring in kerbside recycling and food waste collections. With more details on the services, the council is now consulting the community before amending the long-term plan to include the services and putting funding in place for them.

The council’s general manager property and open spaces, Sarah O’Hagan, says Whanganui is one of only a few councils without a kerbside recycling service, and many people support it as they’ve seen or used kerbside recycling in other centres.

“Research shows more people get involved with recycling when there’s a kerbside collection – we could boost our recyclables by 800 tonnes a year and make sure Whanganui’s playing its part to look after the environment.”

The service would collect plastics 1, 2 and 5, glass jars and bottles, aluminium and steel cans and paper and card.

The council is also consulting on details around a kerbside food waste collection which would collect raw food scraps, cooked food, dairy, meat and fish, as well as some compostable packaging. Each household would be issued with a 7 litre ‘kitchen caddy’ food waste bin for inside the house (with a compostable liner) and a 23 litre food waste bin for outside the house. The 23 litre bin would be placed at the kerbside for collection each week.

“The idea of a kerbside food waste service is new for most,” Sarah O’Hagan says.

“Environmental consultants have advised us that keeping food scraps out of rubbish bins is a very important climate change action because it cuts back on greenhouse gases.”

She says from central government’s Transforming Recycling consultation – currently underway – it looks likely all councils will have to provide a kerbside food scraps collection in the future.

“We know some people have compost bins at home or feed food scraps to animals, but currently the vast majority of Whanganui’s food scraps end up at the landfill, contributing to climate change. Together we could divert a massive 1,700 tonnes of food scraps from landfill and know that we’re doing the right thing for our future.”

Households in the Whanganui city urban area and Fordell, Marybank and Mowhanau villlages would pay a targeted rate of an estimated $2.58 weekly for kerbside recycling (from mid-2023) and an estimated $1.17 a week for kerbside food waste (from mid-2024).

The Whanganui Resource Recovery Centre would remain open for rural households and items that can’t be collected kerbside.

“We always enjoy being out and about talking to the community,” Elise Broadbent says, “so pop in to our market stall for a chat this Saturday morning. This isn’t just about kerbside services – you can submit on anything relating to our annual plan. It’s also easy to submit online – just make sure you get in before 5.00pm this Monday, 2 May.”

To submit online visit www.whanganui.govt.nz/annualplan2022