Across New Zealand, more than 300,000 tonnes of food waste are sent to landfills annually. Waste audits completed by Buller and Grey 2018 showed that 49% of kerbside waste was food waste.
Reducing the amount of food waste in landfills will have multiple benefits, including:
- saving costs through less waste transportation and disposal
- reducing the amount of methane gas that is produced, therefore reducing greenhouse gas emissions
- reducing the overall volume of waste going into landfills, extending the operational life of existing facilities
How is food and green waste collection part of the solution?
Organic material—such as food or green waste—does not need to go to landfills. Instead, it can be used for other purposes.
For example, food waste can be turned into compost (or other products), used as stock food, or used to generate energy through anaerobic digestion. Unused food can be donated to food rescue groups instead of going into the bin. Diverting food and garden waste from landfills reduces costs and is better for our people and the environment.
Food waste includes fruits and vegetables and their skins, peelings and scraps (e.g., onion skins, potato peelings, avocado stones and corn cobs), grain and cereal products, meat and fish scraps including bones, cooked foods, leftover takeaways, processed foods, dairy products, and shellfish and their shells.
Green waste includes garden waste like lawn clippings, weeds, leaves, flowers, and small branches.
Why can’t we compost paper and cardboard?
Paper-based materials (such as paper towels, paper packaging materials, and cardboard) cannot be collected in any food waste or garden waste collection due to poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS, including PFOA and PFOS) that can be found in fibre-based products as well as recycled paper and cardboard.
If these PFAS-containing materials are used in composting processes, they can accumulate in the soil, plants and the food chain.
Newspapers and cardboard can also introduce contaminants, such as inks containing heavy metals and microplastics.
However, kerbside collection can still divert some paper and cardboard from landfills. This includes pizza boxes with food scraps removed, cardboard (including egg cartons), and newspaper.
Why are Councils exploring options for food and green waste collection now?
In March 2023, the previous Government announced that it would develop policies to help shift towards a circular economy that reduces waste and keeps materials in use for as long as possible.
A circular economy aims to create new employment and business opportunities, improve the ability to dispose of waste responsibly and reduce waste disposal costs for households and businesses.
As part of this, the previous Government announced a policy requiring district and city councils to collect food scraps (or food and garden waste) for households in urban areas with over 1,000 people by 2030.
This policy had not been drafted into regulations before the government changed in 2023. The development of a regulation that will bring this policy into force is now awaiting further decisions by the current Government.
Should the current Government pass the policy into regulation, it will apply to urban areas with more than 1,000 people, including Westport, Reefton, Greymouth, and Hokitika. Runanga and Carters Beach may also be included.
For more information, visit:
What is Council planning to do?
Councils must understand people's current attitudes and behaviours around food and green waste on the West Coast. This knowledge will be gathered through bin audits and a survey from June to July 2024 as part of a feasibility study undertaken by the three West Coast District Councils, Development West Coast, and the Ministry for the Environment.
The feasibility study will give councils clarity on critical topics that need to be considered before progressing the planning.
The study will outline a preferred approach for food scraps and green waste kerbside collection, the ideal bin sizes, and the optimum collection frequency, and it will identify suitable regional organic waste processing options. Options for processing facilities need to consider regional particularities, the quantities generated, weather impacts and the potential uses for the end products created in these facilities.
The study will also examine how these facilities could be established, focusing on either one centralised facility or multiple facilities distributed across the West Coast. Lastly, it will cover potential markets for, and end users of, these products.
Dextera Ltd, a local company with expertise in environmental science and project management, will conduct the study. Whirika Ltd, a Dunedin-based company specialising in sustainability and waste management, will provide technical specialist support.
The study is expected to be completed by May 2025. Based on its outcome, all parties involved will decide on the next steps, which will likely include a business case.
The three West Coast District Councils – Buller, Grey, and Westland, are working collaboratively with the Ministry for the Environment and Development West Coast to deliver a coastwide feasibility study.
Engaging with mana whenua (Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Waewae and Te Rūnanga o Makaawhio) will be undertaken to help establish the project’s objectives and priorities.
The regional feasibility is estimated to cost a total of $100,000. Te Pūtea Whakamauru Para – the Waste Minimisation Fund administered by the Ministry for the Environment will fund $75,000. Development West Coast will invest $10,000, and each district council will contribute $5,000.
The purpose of Te Pūtea Whakamauru Para—the Waste Minimisation Fund (WMF)—is to boost New Zealand’s performance in waste minimisation. The WMF invests in infrastructure, services, and educational activity throughout New Zealand and is primarily enabled through the waste disposal levy.
There is considerable scope in New Zealand to reduce waste and increase the recovery of valuable resources from waste. Lifting our performance in recovering economic value from waste also provides environmental, social, and cultural benefits and reduces the risks of harm from garbage. More information about the fund can be found on the Ministry for the Environment website.
What is the difference between a linear economy and a circular economy?
The graphic below explains the difference between a linear economy and a circular economy.
What are other countries doing to reduce waste and create circular economies?
- Japan has had government policies on a circular economy since the 1990s.
- The European Union has included circular economy thinking in its directives and policies since 2013.
- Germany passed a Circular Economy Act in 2012 to promote using circular economy models and waste management in ways compatible with the environment.
- The United Kingdom issued the Circular Economy Package in 2020, including goals for England, Scotland and Wales.
- Many Australian states have recently adopted circular economy laws and strategies.
- Members of the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) endorsed a circular economy approach in the Pacific Regional Action Plan.
How does food waste diversion fit into the waste hierarchy?
The waste hierarchy outlines the best to least favoured options for reducing and managing waste.
The top layers of the waste hierarchy represent a circular approach to managing materials.
Diversion and recovery of food waste from landfills to create a valuable product (e.g., compost) sits in the middle of the waste hierarchy. It is always best to reduce waste first, but recycling it wherever possible is essential once waste is produced.
