The Waitaki District Council and its ratepayers are going through the same difficulties over dealing with waste and recycling as other districts in New Zealand.
This was made clear at a discussion forum on resource recovery and waste, organised by the Waitaki Resource Recovery Trust and the Community Recycling Network, in Oamaru this week.
The council has been grappling with its waste management contract, which includes recycling, for more than two years.
Ratepayers have added to the debate, demanding the community-operated resource recovery trust be involved.
Now the council has called for further proposals, to involve the trust, for a one-bin, kerbside recycling collection.
A panel of three at the forum shared the same message as ratepayers on the benefits of retaining local control and ownership in waste management.
But Kaitaia's Community Business Environment Centre manager Cliff Colquhoun also acknowledged the difficulties in convincing local councils that community-owned organisations could do the job.
"We may be community-owned, but we are also vicious business people," he said at the forum.
The Far North centre was a major success story, not only in fulfilling its waste and resource recovery contract but also using its expertise to expand into other areas, such as managing three swimming pools and carrying out the area's Healthy Homes insulation project.
Its turnover was $6 million a year and it had 70 permanent staff.
"We have become a community asset with expertise and resources to provide other services," he said.
His advice to councils like Waitaki was that "large urban models" for waste management did not work in smaller areas.
Mr Colquhoun, along with other panels members Wanaka Wastebusters' manager Sue Coutts and Environment Waikato's sustainability co-ordinator Susa Kupa, also emphasised the benefits of community involvement in waste management.
That included employment and profits staying within the community, and creating wealth for existing and future residents.
"We need to think about where this money is going - to a head office in Auckland or an overseas company, or back to the local community," Ms Coutts said.
