At tomorrow’s meeting, councillors will vote on whether to approve the draft waste management and minimisation plan 2025 (WMMP) for public consultation.
In her report to council, waste minimisation officer Leigh McKenzie said the plan was part of a wider effort to make waste reduction opportunities more accessible to the community.
"The ultimate outcome of minimising waste is the achievement of a circular system for producing and consuming, benefiting our health and wellbeing and that of the environment," her report said.
The plan’s targets are to reduce the amount of material entering the waste management system by 10% per person, decrease the amount of material needing final disposal by 30% per person and cut the biogenic methane emissions from waste by at least 30% by 2030.
To achieve them, the council would prioritise diverting construction and demolition waste away from landfill and extended diversions for organic waste, while more community-based resource recovery was needed, Ms McKenzie’s report said.
The DCC should work with other Otago councils to improve waste minimisation regionally.
"Waste cannot be minimised by one organisation. It requires everyone to act and work together.
"This plan includes actions that will improve collaboration across sectors and districts, and to develop networks to bring us closer to achieving a circular economy."
Per capita, Dunedin residents sent an average 550kg of waste per year to the Green Island landfill. In 2022, the most common type of waste at the landfill was organic.
The new targets were developed under Dunedin’s Zero Carbon 2030 plan and had "already been achieved, or are very close to being achieved", the report said.
The WMMP targets had been written to align with the Ministry for the Environment’s Te Rautaki Para — the New Zealand Waste Strategy.
The implementation of the plan would largely be funded by a waste levy from the Ministry for the Environment.
Staff recommended the council approve the proposed plan and, if approved, public consultation will begin in March next year before a final draft is prepared mid-year by the infrastructure services committee.
