Don’t rubbish zero waste

By Paul Evans, WasteMINZ chief executive

Auckland Council has a widely-shared vision of becoming the world’s most liveable city, but that’s never going to happen unless its aspirational target of zero waste by 2040 is taken seriously.

As with any audacious goal, the Council has attracted a fair amount of criticism for it.

However, I’d argue that this future-focussed thinking is exactly what the leaders of our cities should be doing. As individuals, many of us are time poor and simply don’t give long-term issues the consideration they arguably deserve, and in the business sector decisions and planning are focussed around much shorter time horizons. For most, 2040 seems a very long time away.

With huge external pressures, it can be all too easy for councils to become preoccupied with the bottom line. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not for one moment suggesting that ratepayer affordability isn’t a key consideration in every decision, but at the same time we need our civic leaders to focus on the ‘big picture’. There are a myriad of challenges facing Auckland, from climate change, resource scarcity and prosperity, to increased pressure on our land, air and water. To ensure there is genuine progress, consideration must be given to what all this means in broader social, environmental and economic terms.

So, what is zero waste? It’s simply a term used worldwide to describe efforts to eliminate the waste problems created by our current ‘take-make-use-dispose’ approach to producing and consuming goods. It redesigns our systems and resource use, with the aim of preventing wasteful and polluting practices. Zero waste then captures any leftovers (what you and I call rubbish) and re-uses or re-purposes them, instead of more natural resources, to give them a new life as ‘new’ products.

With Aucklanders sending over 1 million tonnes of waste to landfill each year I’d argue that the concept of zero waste is far more than an aspiration, it’s a catalyst for real and much needed change. It’s the ‘kick start’, which gets us looking for inefficiencies in the use of our finite resources.

If we look at this from a purely business perspective, waste doesn't need to exist. It's symptomatic of flawed product design. When you look at a bin full of perceived rubbish, in fact all of those materials at one time had a very real value. Essentially we are throwing away materials and money.

Over the last decade, we have made considerable progress on increasing our community’s access to recycling. However, recycling is not the be all and end all. In its current form it is still a simplistic ambulance at the bottom of the cliff solution, which collects waste products and ekes out the small value that is left. This is how the concept of zero waste really comes to the fore. It’s about moving away from simply managing waste to optimising resources.

At the end of the day, Auckland Council cannot achieve the goal of zero waste alone. For that aspiration to ever be fully realised it needs the support of ratepayers and the business community.

I applaud the Council for its Waste Management and Minimisation Plan, and the education programmes and service changes they’ve put in place to address the way every household in Auckland deals with their waste in the future. However, all they can do is put in place the policy framework and services which support and enable us to minimise our waste and create economic opportunities, we have to play our part.

As I see it, the key elements of Auckland Council’s work include:

• Delivering a consistent level of service across the region

• Introducing a universal “disposer pays” approach, which operates successfully already in some parts of Auckland, and at the end of the day means that the less you put out, the less you pay

• At the same time the Council is enhancing its rates-funded recycling services, which will help us to reduce our waste and in turn reduce our costs.

• The regionwide introduction of an organic food waste collection service in urban areas will also be a major factor in helping residents to reduce their costs. Food waste can make up some 50 per cent of residential rubbish!

There’s a lot more to it in terms of everything else Auckland Council is doing to help people reduce their waste, and I guess many people will be asking ‘Will the Council’s solution be perfect? I think we all know the answer to that is ‘No’. Similarly, it won’t be without its challenges. There will be plenty of people who grizzle about the changes – I’ll probably be among them – simply because we humans don’t like change.

However, grizzling doesn’t take away the fundamental need to do something. The status quo is simply not an option and we must start valuing our resources and transitioning towards the concept of zero waste. We can start sorting the problem now instead of leaving it to future generations to clean up our mess

I’m proud of Auckland for taking the first few courageous steps on what will be a long journey that we all must make.

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