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Information and communication

Develop and implement relevant and consistent information systems on waste minimisation and management as the basis for decision-making and monitoring of strategy implementation by central and local government and waste generators

Background and actions

The development of information systems for waste minimisation and management is ongoing, with a range of initiatives at the local, regional and national level.

However, an important characteristic of waste minimisation and management in New Zealand is the devolved, and to a large extent market-led, nature of waste minimisation and management service delivery. This means that while a large amount of data about waste minimisation and management practices has been collected in New Zealand, this information is held by a wide range of organisations. Examples include kerbside recycling data held by territorial authorities, data relating to the quantity and source of waste disposed of to landfill which is held by a mix of commercial and public sector landfill operators, and data about the recovery of commercial waste which is commonly held by commercial recycling operators.

While New Zealand's legislative framework for waste minimisation and management requires territorial authorities to ensure effective waste management in their district, it does not inherently require direct involvement of the territorial authority in service provision. In some areas, waste management (kerbside recycling, domestic collection, commercial waste collection and commercial recycling) is provided exclusively by the private sector with no involvement from local, regional or central government. Given the inherent competition between commercial operators, data about waste source, composition or quantity may be considered to be commercially sensitive and therefore unavailable to policy makers.

Central government has undertaken several work programmes over the past decade to attempt to mitigate this information gap. Some of these work programmes are outlined below.

Waste composition information

The Waste Analysis Protocol was developed in 1992 to provide a standardised methodology for the collection of waste composition data at the landfill gate, for both domestic waste and hazardous waste. The Ministry for the Environment's Sustainable Management Fund co-funded a large number of Waste Analysis Protocol surveys in 1995 - 1997, providing a useful snapshot of waste composition in New Zealand. Several local authorities have continued to measure waste composition, including Auckland Regional Council (which requires composition surveys as a condition of resource consent for landfills in the Auckland region), Gisborne District Council, Westland District Council and Christchurch City Council.

In 2002, the Ministry updated the Protocol (renamed the Solid Waste Analysis Protocol or SWAP) and began an ongoing survey programme at four 'indicator' survey sites. The data from these initiatives provides a useful picture of the composition of waste disposed of to landfill and collected from households at the kerbside from 1995 to 2004.

In 1997, the Ministry for the Environment published the National Waste Data Report and The State of New Zealand's Environment. These documents pulled together data available to the Ministry and noted that there were some gaps in long term integrated data on which environmental decisions were traditionally based. Specifically, the National Waste Data Report noted that some data was 'scarce', that reliability of data was not always assured, but that there was a positive increase in monitoring waste in New Zealand.

To address the broader issue of environmental information in New Zealand, the Ministry for the Environment developed an Environmental Performance Indicators programme. This programme included a waste strand, which developed four indicators:

  • SW1 (Solid Waste Indicator 1): Quantity of waste disposed of to landfill and cleanfill by region to be reported by territorial authorities and commercial landfill operators
  • SW2 (Solid Waste Indicator 2): Quantity of waste recycled (paper, plastic, glass, metal and organic) to be reported by the Packaging Council and Plastics Institute
  • SW3 (Solid Waste Indicator 3): Access to solid waste resource recovery / recycling facilities to be reported by territorial authorities
  • SW4 (Solid Waste Indicator 4): Composition and source of waste to landfill with no responsibilities identified.

The Environmental Performance Indicators programme focused on developing partnership agreements with key implementing agencies (in the first instance regional councils for air and water quality indicators). However, this model became problematic with waste indicators where over 70 councils and a wide range of commercial enterprises held the data required.

A joint initiative involving the Ministry for the Environment, territorial authorities, Environment Waikato, Environment Bay of Plenty and the waste industry in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty regions explored non-regulatory means to address the issue of commercially sensitive data noted above. The project also considered the potential for 'double counting' of waste or recycling volumes where materials crossed local government boundaries or were handled by a range of operators en route to their final disposal or reuse/processing.

Based on the findings of the Indicator Programme, work is underway to develop a coherent monitoring strategy to provide information on the implementation of the New Zealand Waste Strategy and progress against strategy targets. This is detailed below.

Landfill information

Information on landfill management practices employed throughout the country is obtained through the national landfill census. The Ministry for the Environment undertook the first national landfill census in 1995. This provided a snapshot of landfill management in New Zealand and revealed considerable potential for improvement. A follow-up survey in 1998/99 identified some improvements and recommended the Ministry develop guidance for landfill operators on a range of issues including full cost disposal, waste acceptance and the effective management of closed and closing landfills.

Further surveying in 2002 showed continued improvement and offered some projections for the situation in 2010. Table 1 from the 2002 Landfill Review and Audit Report (reproduced on the following page) summarises the results of the three landfill censuses.

Although the 2002 surveying is already somewhat dated, it has revealed a much improved picture of landfill management practices compared to the 1995 census. It also shows a continuing trend of improving landfill management in New Zealand. These improvements include:

  • increases in landfills with an engineered liner
  • improvements in leachate collection (from 13% of landfills in 1995 to 47% in 2002)
  • increases in numbers of landfills diverting stormwater (from 41% in 1995 to 74% in 2002)
  • monitoring of gas (from 3% in 1995 to 27% in 2002)
  • collection of gas (12 sites actively managing gas in 2002 from zero in 1995)
  • charging for waste disposal (from 45% in 1998 to 82% in 2002).

Table 1: National Landfill Census (1995 and 1998), Landfill Review and Audit Survey results (2002) and predictions for 2010

View National Landfill Census (1995 and 1998), Landfill Review and Audit Survey results (2002) and predictions for 2010 (large table)

Significant achievements - highlights

In the past decade, significant achievements in developing and implementing information systems on waste minimisation and management include:

  • the National Waste Data Report: the first aggregation of waste data at a national level, with recommended actions for improving collection and reporting of waste data in New Zealand
  • development of indicators for solid waste: core information agreed for monitoring waste in New Zealand
  • the Solid Waste Analysis Protocol Baseline Programme: a waste composition monitoring programme providing an estimate of waste composition in New Zealand with a defined level of reliability
  • the Waste Data Pilot Project, Waikato and Bay of Plenty: working with local government and the waste industry to identify and address issues of commercial sensitivity, double counting of data, and ongoing collaboration for waste data collection and reporting
  • the development of a monitoring strategy to provide information on the implementation of the New Zealand Waste Strategy and progress against strategy targets.

Enhance community understanding of waste generation issues and management, and encourage individual efforts

Background and actions

Because waste is 'managed' at the household and 'shop floor' levels, community understanding of waste is important. This includes broader issues such as waste reduction (eg, purchasing choices to buy products with less packaging), composting and participation in kerbside recycling collections.

Councils accept that the provision of information to householders is part of local authorities' role under the Local Government Act for the 'effective and efficient' management of wastes. A substantial amount of information materials is produced by individual councils. The following websites provide illustrations of the activities of some councils:

In 2003, the Ministry for the Environment coordinated a national Reduce Your Rubbish campaign in partnership with regional government. This collaboration was based on The Big Clean Up exercise initiated by Auckland Regional Council. The Reduce Your Rubbish campaign promoted some simple and positive actions householders could take to reduce the amount of rubbish being sent to landfills.

The campaign was based on contemporary ideas about social marketing and used a number of components including:

  • five commercials screening on national television
  • a campaign website - www.reducerubbish.govt.nz
  • an 0800 REDUCE hotline to put households in touch with council officers to provide advice
  • a national media strategy (including a national launch event in Wellington)
  • regional and local advertising and media programmes
  • the Reduce Your Rubbish Challenge that used high profile celebrities and a humorous competition to focus publicity on the reduction of rubbish.

Pre- and post-campaign research was used to help prepare for (ie, set benchmarks) and analyse the results of the campaign (compare against these benchmarks). This research indicated that the campaign reached an estimated 500,000 households in New Zealand and helped increase public awareness about ways to reduce rubbish. The Reduce Your Rubbish campaign was also shown to reinforce positive attitudes towards rubbish reduction more generally.

A third area of action is Lifeafterwaste, an initiative of the Waste Management Institute of New Zealand aimed at achieving a resource-efficient and sustainable New Zealand. The initiative was taken by the Institute in response to the preparation of the New Zealand Waste Strategy and aims to bring industry, government and community sectors together under one umbrella to work together as a coalition on waste minimisation and management issues. For further information see the WasteMINZ website: www.wasteminz.org.nz/

Significant achievements - highlights

In the past decade, significant achievements in enhancing community understanding of waste include:

  • regular communication from councils to their communities about waste issues
  • increased visibility of, and understanding of, waste issues through the provision of kerbside recycling, community composting facilities, and community programmes (eg, the Auckland Hazmobile)
  • a number of high profile waste education campaigns (eg, the Reduce Your Rubbish campaign) coordinated in a partnership approach across central and local government and industry
  • awareness and understanding of waste issues amongst the general public of New Zealand has grown significantly compared with earlier benchmarks.

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