1.2 Purpose of this waste assessment - Waikato District Council

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4.0 Waste within theWaikato district4.1 IntroductionThis section focuses on waste that is generated within the Waikato district. Waikato has a number of strategicwaste processing and disposal facilities that accept waste from outside of the district, and flows of thesematerials are discussed in section 5.0.For local government planning purposes, the most important metrics relating to solid waste are the tonnageand composition of waste disposed of to landfill and the tonnage and composition of ‘diverted materials’.The WMA makes a clear distinction between these two types of ‘waste’ materials; ‘waste’ being defined as“any thing that is disposed of or discarded”, while ‘diverted materials’ is defined as “any thing that is no longerrequired for its original purpose and, but for commercial or other waste minimisation activities, would bedisposed of or discarded”.Measurements of waste disposed of to landfill are more readily compiled and more reliable than measurementsof diverted materials. Waste to landfill is a well-defined, discrete material flow, handled by a relatively smallnumber of operators with all material generally being weighed and recorded at a common point – the landfillweighbridge.On the other hand, there is no general consensus on the boundaries of what constitutes a ‘diverted material’.Some materials, such as scrap metal and kraft cardboard collected for recycling, are widely accepted as beingdiverted materials, but for other materials, such as those handled by second-hand dealers, there is no suchagreement. Compounding the difficulties of quantifying diverted materials is the large number of businessesoperating in the industry (usually undocumented) and the wide range of unrelated disposal pathways for thematerials. The commercial sensitivity of quantitative information is another major complication, with manybusinesses in the industry being reluctant to voluntarily provide data.In relation to the objectives of the NZ Waste Strategy to ‘reduce harm’ and ‘increase resource efficiency’, athird distinct waste stream is of importance – cleanfill. ‘Cleanfills’ are meant to provide a low-cost alternative tolandfills for inert wastes that have no environmental impact when disposed of to land. However, as the Ministryfor the Environment’s 2002 guidelines for the management of cleanfills states:“...over time the term ‘cleanfill’ has been stretched and modified. Many cleanfills now mistakenly accept a multitudeof construction and demolition waste, contaminated soils, green waste and many other materials that can result in anadverse effect on the environment”.It is very difficult to gather any data on waste material that is disposed of to ‘cleanfills’. ‘Cleanfills’ thatoperate with resource consents are rarely required to report on the quantity of material that is disposed of.Unconsented ‘cleanfills’ (both legal and illegal) present even greater difficulties with regards to data.As well as these ‘formal’ disposal pathways, waste can be disposed of through more ‘informal’ pathways,including illegal dumping and, particularly in rural areas, on-site incineration and burial.As a result of these factors, this summary of waste data and waste flows will focus on waste that is disposedof to landfill. Data on diverted materials will be limited to the council-controlled recycling systems (ie kerbsiderecycling and transfer station drop-offs) and ‘commodities’ (ie paper, kraft, glass, plastic and metal containers)collected by commercial recyclers.4.2 Waste flows in the Waikato districtUsing information provided by the council and private waste operators, the flows of residual waste materials inthe district have been mapped as shown in Figure 2.24
Figure 2: Residual waste flows in the Waikato districtResidual waste from the Waikato district is disposed of directly to Hampton Downs landfill, at the threetransfer stations within the district, and other transfer stations in Auckland and Hamilton. As shown in thenext section, the largest single waste stream is general waste disposed of directly to landfill. This waste streamcomprises over 50 per cent of the total.The quantities of landfilled waste and diverted materials were determined through analysis of council recordsand information provided by private waste and recycling operators. The results for waste to landfill arepresented in Table 11 below. The results for diverted materials are presented in Table 12 on the followingpage. Both tables are divided into materials controlled by the council and materials controlled by commercialwaste and recycling operators.The quantity of material that is disposed of to cleanfills is often greater than the amount going to landfill, butfew councils have any data on the quantity or composition. The only exception to this is Christchurch CityCouncil, which has a bylaw requiring cleanfill operators to report regularly.4.2.1 Landfilled waste quantities for the Waikato districtTable 11: Waikato district waste to landfillWaste to landfillCouncil-controlled waste streamsTonnes perannum% of totalKerbside refuse collections direct to landfill 6,989 23%• Kerbside refuse collections into Raglan RTS439 1%• Kerbside refuse collections into Pukekohe RTS2,886• General waste into all transfer stations1,919 6%Subtotal - Transfer stations to landfill 5,243 18%Total - Council-controlled waste to landfill 12,232 41%10%Waikato District Council waste assessment 201125
Page 1 and 2: 2011Waikato District CouncilWASTEAS
Page 3 and 4: Contents1.0 Introduction 61.1 Legis
Page 5 and 6: 6.2.5 Economic development 406.2.6
Page 8 and 9: Introduction1.1 Legislative context
Page 10 and 11: and offensive trades (Third Schedul
Page 12 and 13: Figure 1: Waikato districtSource: W
Page 14 and 15: 2.0 WasteinfrastructureThis section
Page 16 and 17: “…material that when discharged
Page 18 and 19: 2.2 Transfer stations and recycling
Page 20 and 21: Table 6: Details of facilitiesName/
Page 22 and 23: For the 2010/11 year, the refuse co
Page 24 and 25: 3.1.4 Other council servicesIn addi
Page 28 and 29: Waste to landfillCommercial operato
Page 30 and 31: the kerbside refuse and the overall
Page 32 and 33: Table 17: Per capita diverted mater
Page 34 and 35: 2) Waikato District Council refuse
Page 36 and 37: ut no information on the other flow
Page 38 and 39: Given the expected increasing quant
Page 40 and 41: EstimatedpopulationJune 2010boundar
Page 42 and 43: waste to landfill would include:•
Page 44 and 45: 7.0 Statement ofoptions7.1 Addressi
Page 46 and 47: deliver this. The role taken will p
Page 48 and 49: This means integrating waste into e
Page 50 and 51: appropriate, while still encouragin
Page 52 and 53: 9.7.2 Hazardous wastesThe council w
Page 55 and 56: A.2.0 Factors affectingfuture deman
Page 57 and 58: Figure 5: International commodity p
Page 59 and 60: tyres. Most of these products are t
Page 61 and 62: surveys at least three months apart
Page 63 and 64: A.3.0 CouncillorworkshopA.3.1Introd
Page 65 and 66: A.4.0 StakeholderworkshopA.4.1A.4.1
Page 67 and 68: • A vision of zero waste is supp
Page 69: • Agriculture, energy and dairy

1.2 Purpose of this waste assessment - Waikato District Council

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