Our plan for reducing waste in Palmy
You've read about how much waste Palmy creates and the issues we’ve been facing. Now find out what we’re doing about it.
We review and update our Waste Management and Minimisation Plan (WMMP) every six years. It's the one big plan which sets out what we're going to do to reduce waste in the city. Our latest plan was adopted by Council in June 2024.
What we’re planning to do
We’ve got 24 actions in our plan. Some of the key actions are:
Introducing a city-wide kerbside food scraps and green waste collection
We’re aiming to do this by 2028. The introduction of a food scrap collection service is a Government requirement, and this must be in place by 2030.
Over half our city’s waste is valuable food scraps and garden vegetation, and so by implementing a service like this, we’d be able to turn this into compost and massively reduce the amount of waste going to landfill.
Replacing our recycling processing plant
Our machinery in our recycling processing plant (known as the Materials Recovery Facility in Awapuni) is no longer fit-for-purpose. By upgrading our machinery, we’ll be better equipped to handle the large volume and types of materials that need to be sorted and processed.
Reviewing our kerbside collection services
Currently, we’re the only council in New Zealand directly providing waste collection services, and so we want to see if there are more effective ways that this can be done.
Promoting waste reduction education
Our plan also focuses on ongoing efforts to promote waste reduction education. This will include more open days and tours at the Awapuni Resource Recovery Park, with some planned for the October school holidays.