Waste Management and Minimisation in the Gisborne District 2014

Transcription

1 Waste Management and Minimisation in the Gisborne District 2014 May 2015 A534556

2 Availability This report is available upon request from Council s Fitzherbert Street office PO Box 747, Gisborne For further information regarding this report contact: Anne Lister - Waste Minimisation Officer Gisborne District Council PHONE: anne@gdc.govt.nz

3 Contents 1. Introduction General Regional Reduction Reuse and Recycling Second Hand Sundays Recycling Rural Transfer Stations Public Places and Event Recycling Council Recycling Agricultural Waste Recovery Organic Waste Refuse Collection Disposal Waste Stream Hazardous Waste Promotion, Publicity, Education and Facilitation School Education OTHER Education Resource Efficiency Monitoring and Enforcement Summary of the Year Towards

4 1. Introduction 1.1 General In 2011, New Zealanders sent around million tonnes of waste to landfill, which is over half a tonne of rubbish per person. Approximately three-quarters of waste disposed to municipal landfills could have been potentially diverted by being recovered, reused or recycled. (From Ministry for the Environment: Quantity of solid waste sent to landfill indicator update, October 2012). To improve the environmental future of New Zealand, we need to look at waste as a resource and find more effective and efficient ways to reduce, reuse, recycle or reprocess it. Waste management is the process of dealing with waste that includes collection, treatment and disposal of domestic, commercial and industrial waste. Waste Minimisation Act 2008 The Waste Minimisation Act 2008 encourages a reduction in the amount of waste we generate and dispose of in New Zealand and aims to lessen the environmental harm of waste. The Act also aims to benefit the economy by encouraging better use of materials throughout the product lifecycle, promoting domestic reprocessing of recovered materials and providing more employment. The Act introduced several new tools for managing and minimising waste. The Act provides: a levy on all waste disposed of at municipal landfills to generate funding to help reduce waste recognition of product stewardship schemes (through accreditation) and the ability to impose mandatory product stewardship schemes clearer responsibilities for territorial authorities in managing and minimising waste. The Act came into force on 25 September 2008 and Part 3 - Waste Disposal Levy came into force on 1 July At the current rate of $10 per tonne (plus GST) the levy generates about $25 million each year. Half of this money is distributed to territorial authorities for waste minimisation initiatives. The rest (minus administration costs) is allocated to projects through the Waste Minimisation Fund It is unknown whether disposal to alternative disposal facilities such as cleanfills (which accept natural materials like clay, soil and rock, and inert materials like concrete and brick) and industrial landfills has increased over time as there is very limited information available. Therefore, changes in waste disposal to municipal landfills could also represent changes in the type of facility that waste is disposed to, rather than changes in disposal quantities. The New Zealand Waste Strategy The two goals of the New Zealand Waste Strategy (October 2010) are: Reducing harmful effects of waste - there is a risk that waste will cause harm to the environment or human health. Reducing the risk of harm means taking steps to reduce the likelihood of it occurring or, if unavoidable, managing its consequences. Improving the efficiency of resource use. Resource efficiency in production could mean reducing and reusing waste products, improving ratio of outputs into inputs, and minimising what needs to be disposed of at the end of a product s life. Resource efficiency in consumption could mean choosing products that are reusable/durable and able to be repaired rather than discarded, choosing products with less packaging, choosing recyclable products and packaging. A Page 1

5 1.2 Regional Waste Management Plan In 2012, Council approved a Waste Management and Minimisation Plan (WMMP)effective from 2012 to The purpose of the WMMP is to enable Council to promote and implement measures to provide effective and efficient waste management and minimisation within the district. This replaced the Waste Management Plan for the Gisborne District (2005). The Waste Management Act 2008 introduced a levy on waste disposed to landfill. Half of the funds collected are returned to councils on a population basis. Working to a WMMP is mandatory if Council wishes to continue accessing funds generated from the levy. A Waste Assessment preceded the WMMP and covered the following key aspects: The current waste situation including the source, destination and composition of waste streams from the Gisborne District; The current waste management services provided in the Gisborne District; The future demand for waste services; and Options for waste management. The plan is due for review in Waste and Recycling Data Monthly waste and recycling data is collected from Waste Management and checked against the previous year s data. This information is essential to ensure that progress is maintained towards a vision of zero waste. The 2014 kerbside collection was 56 % rubbish and 44% recycling. However the public drop-off facility in town for both recycling and stickered bags has increased throughput in the last couple of years. Some of this could have been included in the kerbside collections but it also includes commercial and rural waste and recycling. There was a significant change in both the waste and recyclables collected from the rural transfer stations following the changes in October Rural Transfer station waste, at 1050 tonnes to landfill in 2013, was less than half of that of 2011 before the change to a sticker charging system. As well as recycling emphasis was put on removing organic waste and composting. Over this last year 8% more product has entered the rural transfer stations. This has not been spread evenly between waste and recycling. Recycling has dropped back and waste increased by 17%. This probably reflects the public getting used to the system and starting to use their stickers for rubbish as designed. A Page 2

6 2. Reduction Council has continued to advocate for producer responsibility. Methods of reducing are included in the weekly column in the Eastland Trader and in education programmes run by Council. A project to improve the efficiency of waste management on East Coast marae received the $10,000 Contestable Waste Fund in The purpose of the fund is to minimise waste by providing support for local initiatives. Reduction is a major theme of educational programmes at the Rethink Education Centre, especially for Year 6 students. The Rethink programme aims to see each city student at least twice during their time at primary school. Reduction when making shopping decisions was also the emphasis on a programme at the Rethink Centre for Intermediate classes and in the Waste Free parenting course run by the Nappy Lady for Gisborne District Council (photo on front cover). A Page 3

7 3. Reuse and Recycling 3.1 Second-Hand Sundays Second-hand Sundays have been held in February and October since Around 150 people would register for each of these events with an estimated 60 tonnes of waste being diverted from the landfill each year. Since 2010 these have been held on the first Sunday of every month. 334 households registered in Recycling Gisborne City kerbside recycling collected 2,713 tonnes of recyclables in This is slightly up but consistent with the long term average. The free public drop-off facility at the RRTC still received considerable amounts of recyclables. In previous years we have had no data on the percentage of what was collected got rejected when sorted. In 2013 and 2014 data indicated that in both of the years 3-4% of what was collected was rejected. This is within the acceptable limits and significantly better than comingled or wheelie bin collections in other parts of New Zealand. Graph 1: Gisborne City kerbside recycling Average Monthly Recycling Tonnages Composition of Kerbside Recycling Collection T of plastic, tins, 1369T of plastic, tins, 1869T of plastic, tins, 1542T of plastic, tins, paper/card paper/card aluminium and aluminium and 92T (3.4%) rejected to 110T (4%) rejected to paper/card paper/card landfill landfill 1166T of glass 1145T of glass 776T of glass 1210T of glass A Page 4

8 Resource Recovery Centre (RRC) The drop-off centre for recyclables at Waste Management operates 24 hours a day. An average of 117 tonnes of recyclables was deposited per month in 2014, a total of 1400 tonnes. An average of 159 tonnes of recyclables per month was obtained through commercial collections (both up slightly on the previous year). Greenwaste is diverted at the RRC and transported to the Matokitoki Restricted Waste Disposal Facility (RWDF) for composting. The RRC is monitored regularly. 3.3 Rural Transfer Stations The Gisborne District has nine transfer stations for the management of rural township waste. Six transfer stations are located along the coast (Tolaga Bay, Tokomaru Bay, Te Puia, Tikitiki, Ruatoria and Te Araroa), while three transfer stations are located inland (Te Karaka, Whatatutu and Matawai). These transfer stations operate with restricted hours and are managed by caretakers who ensure that the rubbish, recyclables and diverted materials are placed in the correct bins/bays. Bins are specially provided for glass (clear, green and brown), plastic and cans, and cardboard/paper, while diversion bays are provided for scrap metals, whiteware, and reusable timber. Waste oil, batteries and hard plastics are also diverted at the transfer stations. All the transfer stations have been inspected quarterly to ensure they comply with the resource consent conditions. 606 tonnes of recyclables were collected from the rural transfer stations in The drop-off of recycling remained free when the changes to charging for waste and restricted access was adopted in October This quantity is less than in 2013 but still significantly more than when dropping off waste was not charged for. The recyclables are transported to the RRC when the recycling bins are full. Car Body and Scrap Metal Collection from transfer stations Metal and cars from all rural transfer stations which are transferred to Simms Pacific in Auckland for crushing. 3.4 Public Places and Event Recycling Funding from the Waste Levy Contestable Fund for the Rugby World Cup 2011 provided Gisborne with 10 permanent public place recycling bins and 20 recycling bin stations for events. Giving a total of 28 public place recycling bins and 20 event recycling stations. Love NZ public place recycling bins recovered 3.9 T of waste in 2013 and 4.3 T in T of recycling came from events with the majority from Rhythm and Vines. Two Enviroschools ran waste free school galas and diverted and recycled 92% and 86% of their waste. The waste teams received a lot of positive feedback. A Page 5

9 Council has assisted Tairawhiti Environment Centre in organising recycling for events and providing materials to make this easier. Recycling at Diwali and the Balance Street Christmas event worked well. 3.5 Council Recycling Council s rebuild of the War Memorial Theatre has included systems for separating waste and then wherever possible reusing or recycling. 3.6 Agricultural Waste Agricultural Chemical Containers Agrecovery was set up to remove from the environment the millions of plastic containers used every year in the agriculture and forestry sectors. Council assists in the project liaising between the agrichemical container recovery group, landowners and local farming groups for used empty chemical containers. Agrecovery operates from Riverpoint Road. The containers are recycled into safe end products such as underground cable covers. Agrecovery is well supported locally by horticulturalists but not by pastoral farmers. 5 Rural transfer stations participated in one-off events to ascertain whether distance to the depot was stopping farmers from participating. There was not much support for these events with 470 containers being collected from 7 farmers. A Page 6

10 4. Recovery 4.1 Organic Waste The NZ Waste Strategy states that organic waste should be diverted to beneficial use. November 2010 the waste survey by Waste Management identified: 31 percent of waste entering the RRC was organic. In The April 2008 survey identified: 29 percent of all the waste entering the RRTS as organic (35% of domestic kerbside bags) A 2011 householder survey reported: Forty-seven percent of households compost their kitchen waste and a further 19% gave it to animals (only 14% put it in their rubbish bins with no diversion). Garden waste was composted by 41% of people and 19% took it to composting facilities. Others did a combination of methods with only 2% landfilling garden waste. Council continues to promote organic recycling (recovery), promoting and demonstrating composting, worm farming and Bokashi systems to householders. In 2014 Council supported the Tairawhiti Environment Centre in providing alternate monthly composting or wormfarming workshops for the public. Composting Facility D B Judd operates the only consented composting facility in the district. The discharge permits (discharge to air and discharge to land) have been renewed and now expire on 30 June Worm Farming The worm farm has been operating for the past 12 years to process grease trap waste. The waste is fed to the worm beds where the waste is converted into vermicompost. There has been no complaint received by the Council or problems arising from monitoring. Composting Workshops The introduction of charging for waste through a sticker system in rural areas in October 2012 saw the introduction of free compost bins to attendees at composting workshops. Six composting workshops were held in Gisborne in Each household that attended was eligible to receive a free compost bin. Around 100 bins were distributed bins have been distributed since A Page 7

11 5. Refuse Collection 600 Graph 2: Gisborne City kerbside refuse collection Average Monthly kerbside Tonnage * Recycling Commenced September 2000 The kerbside refuse collection in Gisborne City for 2014 was 3468 tonnes, similar to the previous year. The average domestic refuse bag weighs about 5.4 kg per household. A significant quantity of bags are being dropped off in the allocated bin for stickered bags at the city transfer station. The origin of these is a mix of domestic, commercial and rural. More investigation needs to be done. Refuse Collection in Ruatoria The kerbside refuse collection in 2014 at 42 tonnes has not changed since 2013 but the introduction of the sticker system in 2012 increased the participation in the kerbside collection. Transfer Stations The waste from Tokomaru Bay, Te Puia, Tikitiki, Ruatoria and Te Araroa transfer stations is disposed of at Waiapu Landfill in Ruatoria. Last year 604 tonnes was landfilled at Waiapu, down from 1059T in 2011 but up on the 467T in Landfill volume halved with the introduction of charging in October, 2012 but is now increasing, but still significantly less than before the changes. Very little dumped rubbish has been reported. Small, remote landfills with a quantity landfilled of less than 1000 tonnes a year are exempt from the emissions trading scheme payment. Currently Waiapu is eligible for this saving. The refuse from Tolaga Bay, Te Karaka, Whatatutu and Matawai transfer stations (inland transfer stations) is transported to Waste Management Resource Recovery Centre for processing. Last year 606 tonnes of refuse was collected from these transfer stations. The volume in 2011 was 1373T. A Page 8

12 6. Disposal 6.1 Waste Stream The Gisborne District had a population decline in the period between the 2 census in 2006 and The population of 43,653 disposed of 12,674 tonnes of waste to landfill in 2014, equating to 290 kg/annum/capita. The calculations for the previous years needs to be adjusted to take account of this decline in population (assuming it is linear). In 2012 this was 293kg and in kilogrammes per person for the year. On the basis of the population having been in decline at the time of setting this target the WMMP Target of 285kg per head of population by 2018 should more accurately be 292kg. The waste per head for 2014 is 290kg (up from 279kg in 2013). TABLE 1: Gisborne waste to landfill per capita 2014 Population Gisborne District 43,653 Refuse to landfill from Gisborne RRTS Tonnes to Waiapu landfill Total refuse to landfill 2014 Per capita disposal of waste to landfill 12,043 T/annum 604 T/annum 12,647 T/annum T/capita/annum Graph 3: Volume of waste disposed to land-fill from Gisborne City (1995 &1998 to 2014) Amount The amount of solid waste to landfill generated in the district per capita has continued to decline over the past 15 years. In comparison with districts/regions of similar size, Gisborne has a relatively low rate of per capita waste. Waste Management sent tonnes of waste through from the Resource Recovery Centre (RRC) to landfill. In addition, K & M Contractors processed 604 tonnes of waste to Waiapu Landfill. A Page 9

13 Waste and recycling are transported loose from Gisborne since the compactors were removed from the RRC in The two private operators, M E Jukes & Son and Fulton Hogan processed 9780 tonnes of waste at their restricted waste disposal facilities at Tonlyn and Matokitoki, similar to the previous year. Waste Management have failed to meet their target of 8,000 T to landfill in 2011 but are close to their revised target set at the beginning of 2011 of 11,500 T. Paokahu Landfill The Paokahu Landfill is being managed in accordance with an aftercare plan. Waiapu Landfill The Waiapu Area Landfill commenced operation in March This site takes all the waste from north of Tolaga Bay. Resource consent was granted in 2010 and expires in 2025 Resource Recovery Centre Mixed recyclables are transported to Tauranga for sorting and glass to Auckland. The residual waste is transported to a landfill in Paeroa. Restricted Waste Disposal Facilities (RWDF) - Restricted waste disposal facility Gisborne District has two restricted waste disposal facilities. 1. Tonlyn located at 344 Ormond Valley Road and has been operating since A change in resource consent in 2007 allowed Tonyln to accept small amount of asbestos. 2. Matokitoki located at Matokitoki Valley Road has been operating since All the incoming waste is monitored by the Site Manager before it is accepted and records are kept in a register. These sites accept waste such as used concrete, bricks, ceramics, plasterboard, soil/gravel etc. Matokitoki shreds and composts the organic waste segregated at TPI AllBrites and uses it for landfill cover. The sites have been monitored and no complaints or non-complying issues were identified in Neither site receives municipal waste and therefore are not currently subject to paying the Waste Disposal Levy. A Page 10

14 7. Hazardous Waste The city resource recovery facility operation continues to separate out any obvious hazardous substances received in the general domestic rubbish. Council staff have a close working relationship with the facility and have been called to assist with identification and safe disposal of hazardous substances on several occasions. Council assistance to those who still have chemicals for disposal continues with an inventory of chemicals forwarded to an approved contractor for consideration and arrangements for pickup, disposal and cost recovery. Council supported the AgRecovery collection of obsolete and unwanted agrichemicals from the rural sector in an effort to reduce harm to the environment. This began in 2014 and is continuing into A Page 11

15 8. Promotion, Publicity, Education and Facilitation 8.1 School Education Council s school programme is multifaceted. Council provides class material on its webpage and is available to visit schools on request or schools can have a tailored class at the Rethink Environmental Education Centre. This year the usual school drama was replaced by a transport subsidy for rural schools to visit Rethink and a programme developed for Intermediate students. This was in addition to the usual classes at the Rethink Centre for Year 4 and Year 6 students and any requested visits. Enviroschools Council coordinates and co-funds the Enviroschool programme in Tairāwhiti schools. The other major sponsors are the Enviroschools Foundation with support from MfE, the J.N. Williams Memorial Trust, the H.B. Williams Turanga Trust, Eastland Port and the Department of Conservation. In 2014 eighteen schools were Enviroschools with an additional 2 Kura Māori involved in the associated programme, Te Aho Tū Roa. Waste is a key area of activity in the programme with waste audits a way of measuring change. A number of newsletters are distributed to all schools during the year and are available on Council s webpage. Rethink Centre In 2014, 45 classes, around 1200 students, visited the Rethink Centre to learn about minimising waste. The intermediate programme focused on making waste wise choices around school lunches. School and public groups visit the centre for sessions on waste and litter. A Page 12

16 8.2 Other Education Events To raise awareness and promote action around the environment Gisborne celebrated The United Nations World Environment Day by running a competition through Council s facebook page. World Environment Action Week had a focus for each day with readers actions to be posted each day and each day a prize winner. Themes for the days ranged from Treasure hunting at Secondhand Sunday, Rejigging Recycling, a Food rescue day and the Prizegiving for the schools gadget from Junk competition. 40,000 facebook views were reported. Media The Gisborne Herald featured articles about various aspects of waste. Radio and social media are also used to promote Secondhand Sunday. Eastland Trader The Eastland Trader has sales of approximately 2,500 copies a week. The Sort Yourself Out weekly column is designed to facilitate the exchange of waste, provide sustainability tips and to promote events and trials. Organic Waste Workshops See Section 4 Recovery regarding Composting workshops, wormfarming workshops and bokashi bin promotions. Marae Waste Four marae on the East Coast are participating in Para Kore s waste minimisation programme. This has been funded from the council s Contestable Waste Fund for A Page 13

17 New families waste Council funded two Waste Free Parenting workshops run by the Nappy Lady. Packs of reusable nappies were included with the course. In addition to this the Plunket parenting workshops included a presentation and voucher for reusable nappies. Business Litter Pick-ups Seven businesses continue their commitment to clean up an area 2-3 times a year. Three of these areas are NZ Transport Agency roads and as such have come under the Adopt a Highway programme. Other Pick-ups There are other groups, especially schools, undertaking regular pick-ups, especially the beach areas and sand dunes. 5 schools joined forces and cleaned up from Midway to the river mouth for Keep New Zealand Beautiful Week. Council supports clean-ups by providing gloves, bags and arranges the removal of the rubbish. The public has been active in denigrating dumpers of rubbish. In total 22T of illegally dumped rubbish and litter from cleanups was recovered (down from 34T in 2013 and 27T in 2012). Bollards have restricted access to sand dunes in a small area of Centennial Marine Parade. A Page 14

18 9. Resource Efficiency All economic activities involve the consumption of raw materials and energy, and generate emissions and waste. Resource efficiency involves changes in production and consumption so that natural resources are used more sustainably. It includes innovation in behaviour, technology and different ways of doing business. The goal of resource efficiency is addressed each time waste is reduced, reused or recycled as the use of new resources is avoided. Therefore, many of the activities for 2014 that have been reported in previous sections of the report also have resource efficiency outcomes. The weekly column of Eastland Trader provides tips for having a smaller environmental footprint. Second-hand Sunday encourages the use of second-hand rather than new thereby reducing resource use. A Page 15

19 10. Monitoring and Enforcement Monitoring of waste operations showed compliance with the offensive trade licence/consent conditions. All Council owned and operated sites have been granted resource consent. All Council owned waste sites monitored as per programme. Private waste sites monitored as per monitoring programme. Twenty three infringement notices for litter and illegal dumping were issued (up on 18 in 2013). 22 tonnes of illegally dumped materials were recovered by the Council contractor. (34T in 2013; 27T 2012; 40T 2011). The Annual Litter Count, undertaken on the same sites for the last 12 years, was 405 pieces over 4 sites. This is more than last year but not different from A Page 16

20 11. Summary of the Year Rural Transfer station waste, at 1,224 tonnes to landfill, was significantly up on the 1,050T of 2013 but still less than the more than 2,000T a year prior to the change to a sticker system. Waste from the city transfer station going to Landfill was 12,043 tonnes. Waste going to the Restricted Waste Disposal Sites (RWDF) was 9780 tonnes. Publicity and Education Over 100 people attended composting workshops with 90 compost bins distributed. World Environment Day focused on an Environmental Action Week with 4 of these days being waste themed. New programmes around Reusable Nappies, Waste-free Parenting, and Marae Waste were initiated. Monitoring Monitoring of waste operations showed compliance with the offensive trade licence/ consent conditions. All Council owned and operated sites have been granted resource consent. All Council owned waste sites monitored as per programme. Private waste sites monitored as per monitoring programme. A Page 17

21 12. Towards 2015 The Waste Management and Minimisation Plan is active. There will be new contracts for the waste and recycling kerbside collection services, the operation of the city transfer station and the service for illegal dumping collection and surveillance. The Rethink Centre will no longer have premises at the transfer station. Alternative premises are being sought. As primary students from Enviroschools have transitioned to secondary school they have requested that their new schools become Enviroschools. This should impact on the waste behaviour of these students going forward. Results are expected from the four marae on the East Coast that are participating in Para Kore s waste minimisation programme. This has been funded from the council s Contestable Waste Fund for A Page 18

22 15 Fitzherbert Street, Gisborne PHONE FAX WEB