Guiding principles | mātāpono

Guiding principles are included in this Plan to influence decision-making and contribute to positive and holistic outcomes from the actions carried out.

Waste hierarchy | Paparaka para

The waste hierarchy guides best practice and the order of preference for how to manage waste, to gain the best outcomes for the environment (Figure 3). Focusing on the top part of the waste hierarchy, prevention and reuse, has several benefits. It helps prevent greenhouse gas emissions, reduces pollutants, saves energy, conserves resources, creates jobs, and promotes green technology. By emphasising these steps, we can move toward a more sustainable approach to resource use. Tackling the top of the waste hierarchy requires changes in behaviour and culture around waste.

Councils have largely been focussing investment and resourcing on the lower part of the waste hierarchy, recycling and waste management. With this solid foundation in place, we are in a position to shift our focus to the higher parts of the waste hierarchy (avoid, reuse, repair). This is a difficult area to influence, invest in, and measure. However, there are actions that community groups, businesses, and Council can work on together to make progress. Such as establishing zero waste event services and infrastructure, building on the repair movement, and community-led resource recovery which can offer services like reuse, repair, recycling, product take-back, and reverse reuse logistics. Businesses can design to avoid waste, for durability, and reuse, offer take back programs, and reduce packaging. Council can assist by helping with resourcing and collaboration and planning infrastructure and services to support these activities. This Plan embraces these actions, to shift our investment and resourcing to the top parts of the waste hierarchy.

Leadership

The DCC will model best practice in waste minimisation by reducing waste and shifting to a circular economy. Best practice will be integrated across the organisation’s culture, operations, decision making, and procurement. Furthermore, the DCC will adopt leadership as a frame of mind, and enable others in the community to effect waste minimisation and get involved in achieving this Plan.

Accessibility

DCC waste services are designed and funded to suit most residents. However, local government plays a crucial role and is responsible for ensuring that waste services are accessible to all residents and businesses within our jurisdiction as far as practicable.

There are different demographics in the community with unique needs. Making services accessible to all needs to be part of this Plan’s actions. For instance:

• Providing convenient access to recycling centres, transfer stations, waste collection points, and assisted collections.
• Engaging in educational campaigns to raise awareness about waste minimisation and management practices and offering the information in a range of media forms.
• Inclusive infrastructure and services – investing in infrastructure and services that accommodates diverse needs including for those living in rural communities.

Working locally and regionally

Local waste minimisation, processing, and services will be prioritised to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transporting recycling and improve local economic opportunities. Recycling usually has to be transported long distances from Ōtepoti Dunedin to be processed. However, by working locally, we can reduce this conflict upon the environment between reducing waste and producing greenhouse gas emissions. Regional collaboration is also key for gaining scale and efficiency in the collection of quality materials as demanded by processors.

In preparation for this Plan, the DCC worked with the other districts in Otago to write a joint regional Waste Assessment. This identified opportunities for working together, to get the best waste minimisation outcomes. This Plan seeks to work in close collaboration with the other Otago districts (Clutha, Waitaki, Central Otago, and Queenstown Lakes) and Southland where appropriate. This could involve Councils:

• Agreeing to adopt a consistent waste minimisation bylaw.
• Jointly collecting data from waste operators and using this information to identify issues and options from this information.
• Jointly advocating for access to centrally held data. For example, waste levy reporting.
• Sharing a regional human resource that engages across sectors and districts, to build on waste minimisation opportunities.
• Collaborating to consistently and proactively engage with target communities to minimise contamination.
• Promoting public participation in local authority rubbish and recycling services.
• Supporting shared resources for digital trading systems for materials.
• Collaborating to design a scalable Circular Resource Network for the region, with any infrastructure projects being designed to fit with this network. Smaller community-led infrastructure and services are actively encouraged and prioritised over large commercial infrastructure, where appropriate.
• Committing a portion of funding to deliver priority collaborative regional projects.
• Territorial Authority (TA) Officers advocating for regional infrastructure when engaging in collaboration at a national level.
• Exploring further regional co-operation, such as establishing a regional waste entity.

Diversify waste minimisation solutions

To enable people to reduce and minimise waste, more options need to be available. In Ōtepoti Dunedin, some materials cannot be diverted from landfill because the necessary services and infrastructure are not available locally. To improve waste minimisation in Ōtepoti Dunedin, we need to increase our range of waste minimisation opportunities, such as reuse systems and drop-off sites for textiles,timber, and agricultural items.

Te ao Māori

To give effect to a Māori worldview, the actions in this Plan should be carried out in a way that uses the principles from Te Takiharuru, Dunedin’s Māori Strategic Framework, so that key concepts for a Māori worldview can be incorporated into operations and outcomes from this Plan. Te Taki Haruru is the name gifted to the DCC’s Māori Strategic Framework by mana whenua. In Māori, taki translates as ‘to cry’ and haruru ‘to roar’. Takiharuru (Pilots Beach) is named because of the roar of the ocean. In the context of the strategic framework, the name Te Takiharuru is a metaphor that connects Ōtepoti Dunedin residents to the past, to the place where the Treaty was signed in Ōtepoti Dunedin, and like the constant roar of the ocean, is a constant reminder of our Treaty of Waitangi relationship.

Kaitiakitaka is an essential and centralised aspect of the DCC’s commitment to the Treaty of Waitangi regarding the WMMP, which is reflected in Te Takiharuru. The primary key directions that promote, or relate to, kaitiakitaka within the WMMP are “Māori are leaders in the management of our natural resources and built environment,” and “Te Ao Māori informs policy, planning and decision-making.” These key directions ensure that mana whenua’s priority of caring for te taiao (the environment) is utilised in the management of te taiao and relevant kaupapa (activities) that are related to, or have an impact, on te taiao. The application of this priority, seeing kaitiakitaka actioned, will be guided by the two-remaining environmental-based key directions, “Mātauraka is incorporated through the co-design and co-management of our environment and resources,” and “The environment is regenerated and a sustainable future is secure.” The key directions, within the environmental wellbeing strand of Te Takiharuru, show how kaitiakitaka can be, and will be, utilised within the WMMP.

Developing the Action Plan

Engaging key sectors and stakeholders

In preparation of this Plan, the DCC carried out stakeholder engagement as follows:

• Workshops with key sectors – construction and demolition, community/non-profits, businesses in partnership with Business South, and private waste operators.
• Meetings with tertiary stakeholders – The University of Otago and Otago Polytechnic
• Meetings with:
  • Ōtepoti Dunedin Community Boards
  • Zero Carbon Alliance
  • DCC departments including Waste and Environmental Solutions, Events, Community Development, Parks and Recreation, City Planning, Building Services, Legal, Corporate Policy, and Procurement.
  • The Waste Management and Minimisation Steering Group included mana whenua representatives.

Feedback from the engagement process was used as the basis for the objectives and the Action Plan.

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