“The Draft Waste Management and Minimisation plan released by Auckland Council yesterday is a winning strategy for sending less stuff to landfill, reducing emissions and building community resilience,” said Sue Coutts of the Zero Waste Network Aotearoa.

“Waste, non-recyclable packaging, plastic pollution and litter consistently show up in the top ten concerns for New Zealanders. People don’t want more landfills and they don’t want incinerators.”

“The best way to reduce the costs and risks of waste is to create less of it. This plan will make it easier for Aucklanders to shift to new business models that prevent waste, to reuse, repair and repurpose valuable resources and to divert what's left to recycling and composting.”

“Auckland Council has been leading the way on waste minimisation with its goal of zero waste by 2040. They understand that zero waste is a practical strategy that gives us a roadmap, a toolkit and a destination.”

“Auckland Council’s plan shows the value of partnering with businesses and organisations who want to achieve the same objectives,” said Sue Coutts. “Innovative organisations across Auckland are already working hard to engage communities and businesses by giving them practical alternatives.”

“The network of resource recovery centres and zero waste projects across the city keep stuff out of landfills and deliver real benefits to local communities by providing practical reuse, repair, recycling and composting solutions.”

“In the construction and demolition space, which produces 30% of waste to landfill, there are some great companies already integrating deconstruction and reuse into their building projects. Trow Group is one of the largest commercial deconstruction companies based in Auckland. They have been salvaging hundreds of tonnes of construction materials every year while creating jobs and supporting community projects across the Pacific.”

“It is great to see that Auckland Council has embedded its commitment to partnering with Mana Whenua to achieve outcomes that are important to Māori in the plan.”

“But communities and councils can get so far under their own steam. We need big business and the Government to get on board too.”

“The greatest opportunities for waste reduction exist in the business and commercial sectors which account for 80% of all waste to landfill.”

“We will only be able to achieve waste reduction and recycling targets when the Government locks in the regulatory framework and gets the critical Mandatory Product Stewardship schemes for packaging, drink containers, e-waste and other priority products up and running. Product stewardship is based on a ‘polluters pays’ model that shifts the cost off ratepayers and councils for collection and processing of end of life packaging and products.”

We know Aucklanders care about protecting their environment and that reducing waste by reducing, reusing, recycling and composting is a popular way to achieve this. We encourage people across the Auckland region to make a submission on the plan and use their voices to support the Council’s zero waste by 2040 ambition.”

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