Rotorua residents will soon be able to dispose of food waste and grass clippings with a weekly kerbside collection, while general waste bins will be put roadside fortnightly.

The question of happens to that waste could open up possibilities for local employment and investment, depending on who wins the tender for the job, Rotorua Lakes Council elected members have heard.

They voted last Wednesday to approve kerbside collection of food and garden waste on a weekly basis while reducing general rubbish to fortnightly.

Council staff would now work out how the service would operate.

Infrastructure and environmental solutions deputy chief executive Stavros Michael spoke to councillors about why changes were proposed.

Under the Waste Minimisation Act 2008, territorial authorities are required to reduce waste to landfill and audits of Rotorua bins showed 55 per cent of waste was either food or garden waste.

The Government announced changes to the landfill levy and emissions trading scheme in 2020, and the move to introduce organic kerbside collection aimed to mitigate financial risks.

Organics diversion also aligned with the council's and Te Arawa's environmental goals, with the initiative expected to result in half the amount of waste going to landfill, and an 80 per cent reduction to the municipal waste carbon footprint.

The change would result in about a one per cent rates increase from next year. The expected cost to ratepayers was between $46 and $58 a year.

Mayor Tania Tapsell asked for confirmation of where Rotorua's rubbish was sent, given the district's landfill had been closed since 2017 and was acting as a transfer station.

Michael said waste went to the Te Puke landfill.

Tapsell said the fact it was being sent elsewhere was unpalatable and irresponsible.

'We wouldn't be happy with it in our backyard.”

She said the initiative would not only reduce waste to landfill but reduce harmful emissions too.

As for the economic opportunities, she referred to the Reporoa Organics Processing Facility - Ecogas.

Ecogas's website describes it as the country's first large-scale food waste-to-bioenergy facility.

'From this circular economy of taking our waste and being able to use it for something else does create jobs, it does create an income and it actually creates a better future for Rotorua.”

Infrastructure and environmental solutions deputy chief executive Stavros Michael. Photo / Laura Smith.

Michael said earlier in the meeting that expressions of interest last year included the possibility of setting up a processing facility in Rotorua, and it was expected tenders with local impacts would be given preference.

Tapsell said there was no doubt waste minimisation 'was the best approach”, particularly when facing an extra $1 million a year from the landfill levy.

She also asked what opportunities there were for residents who would still fill up their general waste bin within the fortnight.

Environmental health performance manager Niki Carling said providing bigger bins had been considered, but there would likely be a cost to this. The bigger bin would be double the regular capacity at 240 litres.

Councillor Robert Lee was the only elected member to vote against the proposal and said he supported a business-as-usual approach.

He said it was a premier service that was 'not necessary in this economy”.

Public consultation held last year resulted in 85 per cent of 371 submissions showing support for organics collection. Option five, which was what councillors approved last week, was supported by 64 per cent.

Of those who supported organics diversion, 71 per cent supported a proposal to change rubbish collection frequency from weekly to fortnightly.

Fourteen per cent of submitters supported a business-as-usual approach.

The Government announced in March kerbside collection would be standardised across the country. This included recycling by 2027, and household food scraps collection by 2030.

At the time, environment minister David Parker said New Zealand was one of the highest generators of waste per person in the world, every year producing about 750kg per person and only one-third of household waste was recycled and composted.

'A standardised service will make it clear what can or can't be recycled from home, so New Zealanders can be confident they are doing the right thing.”

Other councils in the country had already moved to provide organics collection. This included in Tauranga, where during the six months after its new opt-in garden waste collection service began in 2021, an increase of 213 per cent was collected.

A Tauranga City Council spokeswoman said it had almost halved the amount of household waste going to landfill in the first year and had collected more than five million kilograms of food waste.

All food scraps and garden waste collected from the kerbside in Tauranga were composted in Waikato, to be used by farms and orchards across the Bay of Plenty and Waikato to help grow new food.
General waste is taken to the landfill at Hampton Downs.

- Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ on Air.