In July 2024, Buller, Grey, and Westland District Councils asked to hear from West Coasters about their current ways of dealing with food and green waste and their preferences for collecting it in urban centres.
What is happening currently with food and green waste?
Food scraps and wasted food are currently disposed of with general household rubbish. This rubbish is transported to landfills for disposal, creating emissions and added cost for ratepayers.
Food and green waste collection could be one way to reduce the amount of waste in landfills. However, to make it work, we need to find collection and processing solutions that fit our region. Therefore, the survey is crucial.
New Zealand-wide, more than 300,000 tonnes of food scraps and wasted food are sent to landfills every year, rotting and producing methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. This is approximately 30 – 40% of the waste that ends up in landfills nationwide. Waste audits completed in Buller and Grey in 2018 showed that these figures are broadly consistent with the national average, with 49% of kerbside waste being food waste.
In the big picture, reducing food waste sent to landfills is a critical step if Aotearoa New Zealand is to meet its emissions reduction target of decreasing waste-caused methane gas by 40 per cent by 2035.
Have your say
Individuals, organisations, and businesses can participate in the survey. The more people who participate, the more information we gather - the better we can plan. It is a fantastic chance for people coast-wide to bring in their voice right from the get-go.
FAQs
Want to know more? Please read our Frequently Asked Questions to learn more about food and green waste on the coast and in Aotearoa.
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