Buller District Council considers feedback on the Draft West Coast Regional Waste Management and Minimisation Plan 2024 - 2030

27 Mar 2025

Buller District Council considered submissions to the Draft West Coast Regional Waste Management and Minimisation Plan (WMMP) 2024 – 2030 at this week’s council meeting.

Consultation on the Draft West Coast Regional WMMP 2024-2030 took place between Monday 18 November and Friday 20 December 2024.

In Buller, 30 submissions were received, with 25 submitted online, and five received in hard copy. Three submitters spoke in support of their submissions at the council meeting.

Key findings from the submissions were:

  • 65% of the submitters agreed with the proposed vision of the Draft West Coast Regional WMMP.
  • Respondents think that council should focus on making waste diversion easy, supporting product recycling schemes, and communicating and sharing reduction, reuse and recycling activities.
  • Respondents mentioned that council should prioritise education and information to support residents' adoption of ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle. In particular, the submitters desire more education and communication regarding waste minimisation.
  • Submitters highlighted that council should work directly with industries that create products and packaging that end up in landfills, so households are not responsible for disposing of packaging such as soft plastic.
  • Regarding the best channels to inform residents about waste management, submitters preferred to receive information from direct channels, like email newsletters and information included with their rates notices. Social media posts, posters in public spaces, and articles in local and regional newspapers are also favoured ways to communicate.
  • Regarding the development of policies, 46% of respondents think that a waste and resource recovery grant is the most important policy for improving waste minimisation.
  • Submitters selected soft plastic packaging recycling, battery recycling, electrical products and refrigerants as the product stewardship schemes that they would use the most.
  • The submitters’ preferred approach for keeping waste out of landfills was to investigate alternatives to manage waste streams that contribute large volumes to landfills, such as organic waste. Recycling Recovery Schemes were also chosen as one of the most encouraging ways to keep waste out of landfill. Submitters expressed that they would like council’s waste facilities to have a reuse shop that diverts products from landfill.
  • With regards to the importance of establishing a regional landfill that could serve the entire region, 51% of the respondents consider it to be either essential and/or very important, whereas 48% of the respondents consider it of little importance and/or not important at all.  

Group Manager Infrastructure Services Anthony Blom says: “The submissions have provided council with helpful information regarding our priorities for waste management and minimisation in Buller. The findings indicate that the submitters are aware of many current issues surrounding waste management and minimisation.”

After discussing the submissions, council recommended that no changes were made to the West Coast Regional WMMP.

The suggested changes from all three district councils will be collated and integrated into the final WMMP, if applicable. All three district councils will adopt the final plan in the next two months.

Notes to the reader:

A total of 46 submissions were received West Coast-wide. Grey District Council gathered eight submissions, and eight people submitted on the draft plan in the Westland District.  

The Draft West Coast Regional Waste Management and Minimisation Plan 2024-2030 (WMMP) was developed by the three district councils (Westland, Grey, and Buller) to identify regional opportunities for waste management, develop regional waste infrastructure, and boost economies of scale.

-ENDS-

For further information please contact: 
Community Engagement Team  
Buller District Council 
Media.Enquiries@bdc.govt.nz   

Disclaimer
The information in this media release was correct at time of publication. Changes in circumstances after the time of publication may impact on the accuracy of the information.