New Zealand has a waste problem and we need to sort it – it’s getting into our environment and creating CO2 emissions.
The Ministry for Environment is proposing 3 core actions to address the situation. (MfE Summary document) If you want to help reduce all this waste please make a submission - you have until Feb 3.
To make a submission - and to help you we have condensed the information with some suggested content to cut and paste - do add your own comments as well. The 3 core actions:
- Increase and expand the waste levy
- Regulate to mandate to collect data on waste
- Develop a levy investment plan from the increased funds to develop projects to promote or achieve waste minimisation
Why
- In the last 10 years waste to landfills has increased by 45%
- This wastefulness represents produces greenhouse gases we cannot afford to emit, making stuff, buying stuff, and then throwing stuff away
- Many material streams, eg organic - produce methane in the landfill.
- Our landfills are filling and some of this, escapes into the environment
- Our landfill levy (only a small part of what your council charges for rubbish) is VERY low by international standards - $10 per tonne, New South Wales - $140 - resulting in less waste per head!!
- Overseas when landfill charges increased waste decreased.
- Currently only 11% of landfills even pay the levy- and that’s less than half the waste.
- And it gets worse – we don’t have accurate data on our waste, what our waste is, who’s disposing of it, no accurate information on recycling. Problem – you can’t manage what you can’t measure.
For more detail the Rubbish Trip have an excellent summary.
Attached is a PDF of suggestions for some of the questions – this is a summary of a more comprehensive guide to the Waste Levy consultation from the Zero Waste Network. To make your submission.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1X2RJ4FVGkw274_BXYyg6lQcIX7G_pdaeZtNU5SxEmwM/edit#
