Over the month long consultation period on the draft plan, Council received 93 submissions which gave feedback on the proposed new kerbside services, and a variety of other topics.

Four submitters spoke to Elected Members at the Council meeting on 19 May 2022. Council considered submissions received and made decisions at deliberations held at the Council meeting on 2 June 2022.

Below you will find a summary of the key decisions of Council.

Kerbside Proposal One - Mobile Garbage Bin (Wheelie Bin) Refuse Collection Service

Council have made the decision to progress with a Mobile Garbage Bin (Wheelie Bin) fortnightly collection service to Feilding residents, and to the villages of Rongotea, Sanson, Halcombe and Himatangi Beach.

This service will be supported by the provision of bin clips to protect the environment from Wheelie Bins tipping over in the wind.

This new service is planned to be rolled out in the 2024 – 2025 financial year. Full cost implications will be included in Council’s 10 Year Plan 2024 – 2034.

It is planned that customers in receipt of the service will have a choice in the size of the Wheelie Bin they are provided with.

Council will continue the existing blue bag service for rural kerbside refuse customers and to village kerbside refuse customers in the villages not named above. Rural customers who do not currently have access to kerbside refuse collection will continue to have access to rural collection points for blue bags.

Kerbside Proposal Two - Food Waste Collection

It has been decided by Council that a weekly food waste collection service will be provided to Feilding residents, and to the villages of Rongotea, Sanson, Halcombe and Himatangi Beach.

It is currently planned that a 6L kitchen food waste caddy and a 23L kerbside food waste collection bin will be provided to customers as part of this new service.

The new food waste collection service is planned to be rolled out in the 2024 – 2025 financial year. Full cost implications will be included in Council’s 10 Year Plan 2024 – 2034, however this new service will be subsidised by the Waste Levy Funding that Council receives from the Ministry for the Environment. This will help to minimise the associated cost for those who receive the service.

Food waste will be collected from the kerbside weekly, whilst kerbside refuse collection via Wheelie Bins will be moved to fortnightly. This change in frequency reflects the desire of Council to incentivise the community to separate their food waste from their general refuse.

Council’s intention is for collected food waste to be processed by the Manawatū Wastewater Treatment Plant’s Anaerobic Digestion system to produce composted solids and biomethane. These products can be used for energy and food production, and sold to commercial partners. Income generated could then be invested by Council into further waste management and minimisation initiatives.

Kerbside Proposal Three - Comingled Recycling and Glass Collection to Rongotea, Sanson, Halcombe and Himatangi Beach

Council have decided to provide a kerbside recycling collection service to the villages of Rongotea, Sanson, Halcombe and Himatangi Beach.

This service will include the provision of a recycling bin and a black crate for glass, as well as a bin clip to protect the environment from recycling bins tipping over in the wind.

This new service is planned to be implemented in the 2024 – 2025 financial year. Full cost implications will be included in Council’s 10 Year Plan 2024 – 2034, however this new service will be subsidised by the Waste Levy Funding that Council receives from the Ministry for the Environment. This will help to minimise the associated cost for those who receive the service.

Currently, there is no plan to remove or relocate existing Mobile Recycling Centres in villages where kerbside recycling is implemented. Continued use of these Mobile Recycling Centres will be monitored and future decisions made based on use.

The Action Plan

Within the final adopted Waste Management and Minimisation Plan 2022 - 2028, an action plan sets out a package of initiatives that Council plans to implement over time to support their vision for waste management and minimisation in the Manawatū district.

This Action Plan remains largely as consulted on with the draft plan. Key changes are summarised below:

• Inclusion of specific Waste Levy Funding amounts for each proposed action;
• Addition of an action to provide bin clips to support existing kerbside recycling services in Feilding to be implemented in the 2022 – 2023 financial year.

You can read the final plan here: www.mdc.govt.nz/documents/plans/waste-management-and-minimisation-plan-2022-2028

We thank those of you who took the time to share your feedback on the draft Waste Management and Minimisation Plan 2022 - 2028. Keep an eye out for progress updates as we roll out the plan on our website, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter.