Launch of new waste strategy facility Timaru District Council

Redruth Landfill
Timaru

Thank you for inviting me to open officially Timaru District Council’s Redruth Materials Recovery Facility. This is a fantastic initiative – and I congratulate Timaru on being the first place in New Zealand to introduce this three-bin recycling and waste management system.

I dream of a day when our country will have zero waste going to landfill. A system like this takes us a long way towards that goal.

Already you are diverting more than seventy per cent of the domestic waste which would have gone into landfill into this new system – that’s a tremendous achievement.

I’m told that the New Zealand Waste Strategy of 2002 was a key driver behind Timaru’s decision to design a new system.

Faced with the need to ‘get serious’ about organic waste, and the possibility of having to truck waste in the future almost 200km out of the district to a regional landfill at Kate Valley, Timaru District Council has taken a very positive approach and redesigned its systems for a more sustainable future.

Sustainability is a desirable goal for our whole country. Here in Timaru you are leading the way in showing how we can think globally and act locally. And it happens because your community is also prepared to see the big picture and sort rubbish out into categories before it goes for collection. Now waste will only go to the landfill if you have no way of recycling it at this time. And over time I hope at the nationwide level we will find ways of dealing with that residual waste too.

Timaru’s Three-Two-One-ZERO waste strategy has produced outstanding results in a very short time. By providing households and businesses with three separate bins, you have dramatically altered the patterns of waste disposal since the new system was introduced in July.

Seventy-four per cent of domestic waste diverted from landfill to other uses is a remarkable outcome in the first three months.

Just 1,306 tonnes of waste were collected from July to September 2006, compared with 4,515 tonnes for the same period in 2005.

852 tonnes were recovered for recycling, and a further 2,100 tonnes of greenwaste collected at the kerbside will be processed in the new composting facility.

This initiative will prolong the life of your local landfill by many years, and is estimated to save the community up to $30 million in avoided landfill costs.

Timaru’s Three-Two-One-ZERO facility is not only the first in New Zealand, but also in the Southern Hemisphere. You have shown the way for others to follow.

New Zealand prides itself on its clean green image , but it’s important that the image has real substance. At every level of the community, from the individual and family, to the workplace and local and central government, we can make a commitment to sustainability.

I am setting a challenge for New Zealand to become the first truly sustainable nation – a big challenge, but an exciting one. And if we all work together we can achieve that.

Recycling waste is central to making our country more sustainable. It reduces the need for the extraction of raw materials and the use of fossil fuels. It preserves our landscapes and remote valleys from becoming dumps.

Better management of our waste also reduces emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere – and that’s critical for working to reduce the impact of climate change.

Only this week a major report released by the British Government estimated that the economic impact of doing nothing about climate change would in time be greater than the impact of the two world wars last century. That is not just a sobering analysis – it also compels us to act to be part of the solutions and not part of the problem. That’s what Timaru has done by leading the way on domestic recycling.

Now that the Council has taken this big step, it will be time to consider the management of construction and demolition waste too. It constitutes a significant waste stream which should also be recyclable.

Once again, congratulations Timaru for leading the way in the management of waste.

I hope the public takes full advantage of the open day at the Redruth Recovery Facility planned for this weekend, and I look forward to hearing more of your achievements as we all work together for a sustainable future for New Zealand.