Space is an issue when it comes to recycling in central Queenstown, businesses say.
Queenstown Lakes District Council solid waste manager Stefan Borowy said while it would be beneficial to have different colour sorting bins for bottles and an organic waste bin, comments the council had received were that space was limited.
"One of the comments we are getting is that there is not a lot of space to provide different bins for different glass ... if we were to provide a green waste receptacle, that space could potentially be used for a revenue stream for the business," Mr Borowy said.
He said the council was looking into waste storage for new buildings as part of the district plan.
As for household recycling, there was a problem with contamination which he attributed partly to the transient population.
"During the ski season, we see a slight increase in the number of contaminated bins."
Because organic or green waste made up 30% of the total waste which went into landfill, the council was continuing to promote home composting systems and the general diversion percentage of landfill waste was continuing to rise.
The council was also looking at ways to reduce the amount of construction waste which went into landfill.
One option was to provide containers at the transfer station. Another option was to encourage designers, architects and builders to reduce their amount of waste.
"Under the building code, there are no requirements for, first of all, a waste minimisation plan," Mr Borowy said.
The central Government put emphasis on making building as simple as possible, he said, and the encouragement to reduce construction waste "is not one that provides any teeth".
"There's obviously a dollar figure - if you minimise waste you are obviously going to save money - but maybe some builders just pass that cost on to the owners.""At the moment, there is no building framework [for construction recycling].
"The only way would be to include it in a bylaw ... it would have to go through the community and they would decide if that is beneficial."
