Long Term Community Plan 2012-2022 - Hurunui District Council

Hurunui Community Long Term Plan 2012 - 2022
In 2012, Council adopted a new Waste Management and
Minimisation Plan. The purpose of this plan is to:
• Describe our vision for waste management and
minimisation, whilst determining long term goals for the
Hurunui district and providing direction as to how they
will be achieved.
• Initiate strategies, objectives, policies and activities to
achieve these goals and determine how to measure
progress.
• Provide details regarding how we will fund the proposed
activities over the coming six years.
• Meet our legal requirements regarding waste
management.
A new transfer station will be built in Amberley in the 2012/13
year. This has been planned for several years. A new location
has taken some time to identify. There are no major plans for
the other stations at this time. We expect our facilities to be
able to cope with increased volumes of material.
Funding
Operational Costs:
• Refuse collection costs are met through targeted rates
for each dwelling or business in each urban area based
on the cost of collection in that urban area.
• Rural ratepayers on the route can have their rubbish and
recycling picked up, providing they pay the appropriate
rate, the collection point is agreed in advance with
council and the rural refuse collection stickers are used.
• Transfer station costs are met through fees set at each
transfer station. The fees are set to encourage use and
discourage illegal dumping. Any shortfall in costs is
met from a District Rate.
• Litter bin collection costs are all met through a District
Rate.
Capital Costs:
• Any capital expenditure on the transfer stations is
funded over the life of the asset through a District Rate.
• Income from the Council’s share of the Government’s
landfill levy may be used for capital purchases.
Council Owned Assets
Five transfer stations are located at:
• Amberley
• Cheviot
• Culverden
• Hanmer Springs
• Waiau
Maintenance and Operating Implications
Most of our recycling and refuse services are contracted out
and we see this as being the most economical and efficient
method for the conceivable future.
We own our transfer stations and contract out the running of
most of them and the cartage of residual waste to the landfill
and recycling to Christchurch.
Assumptions and Risks
Environmental consultants monitor groundwater bores at the
district’s closed landfills.
Although in recent years, the growth in the district has been slow,
household waste is growing and we expect this to continue. The
cost of waste disposal is likely to continue to increase unless we
take proactive action. Therefore it is important that we educate
consumers about alternative methods of dealing with waste in
an effort to reduce it and ensure that services are provided
in the most cost efficient and affordable manner. The price of
fuel has increased since the collection service contracts were
last negotiated which will impact on the cost of future contract
tenders.
The growth of disposable goods and packaging present us with
an on-going challenge to ensure we are able to recycle and
reuse as much waste as possible. Our modest transfer stations
are expected to cope with these increasing volumes.
One of our major challenges is to find affordable ways to
encourage people to minimise or dispose of their waste in the
most environmentally sustainable way. High waste disposal
costs lead some people to illegally dump waste but setting
charges too low means that everyone pays irrespective of their
individual efforts to reduce waste. Higher standards for landfills
add to the increasing costs.
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