by Duncan Wilson | 17 Oct 2018 | article, Councils, News, Policy & Strategy, Recycling, Sustainability, Sustainable Business, Waste, Waste & Recycling
In the course of our work we talk to lots of council members, stakeholders, and members of the public. The topic of Waste to Energy comes up regularly. Waste to Energy is common in many places overseas such as UK, parts of Europe, Japan, and it is becoming more common in China and the USA. But New Zealand doesn’t have any Waste to Energy facilities that process municipal waste. In this article for Revolve magazine Dr Dominic Hogg and Duncan Wilson examine the pros and cons of burning waste to generate energy.
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by Duncan Wilson | 31 May 2018 | article, Councils, News, Policy & Strategy, Recycling, Reports, Waste, Waste & Recycling
The discussion document Rebooting Recycling – What can Aotearoa do? has been released by WasteMINZ. Eunomia worked with WasteMINZ and the recycling industry to develop the document.
Overview:
The collapse in international recycling markets has left the recycling sector in New Zealand in a vulnerable position. Without positive action to address the issue, recyclable material could be sent to landfill, councils and communities will suffer financially, and operators could go out of business. Action from the Government is needed. There are some things that need to happen immediately, including:
– enabling access to funding,
– facilitating national communications, and
– obtaining better data on recyclable materials.
There are also some things that will take longer, but that will help build a more robust system and deliver a more circular economy. These actions include:
– revising the national waste strategy,
– changes to the waste disposal levy,
– product stewardship and design,
– ongoing communications, and
– positive public procurement of recycled products.
While there is a lot to do, everything that has been set out in this discussion paper can be achieved using existing funding sources and legislation. The sector is engaged and willing to work positively with the Government to ensure our sector is thriving.
Finally, this crisis also represents an opportunity, the opportunity to build a new system that can deliver better outcomes for our communities, our environment, and our economy. Together we can reboot recycling and create a circular economy for Aotearoa.
To download a copy of the discussion document click the button below:
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by Duncan Wilson | 2 May 2018 | article, Councils, Recent, Recycling, Reports, Strategy, Waste
In this article from Revolve magazine Duncan Wilson looks at the past and future of waste planning in New Zealand.
The way we manage waste has evolved significantly over the last 30 years. Unfortunately not a lot of credit for that can go to our waste planning. If we are going to meet the challenges of the next 30 years we are going to need to think differently. We are going to need to do things differently. Our waste plans need to be about more than just when and what bins get collected. They need to be about how we make our communities better.
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by Duncan Wilson | 3 Apr 2018 | Councils, News, Recent, Recycling, Reports, Waste
Waste Data Indicators are now available! If you want to compare your waste and recycling performance to what happens elsewhere you need to be sure your numbers mean the same things. That is where the new Waste Data Framework Waste Indicators come in. We have worked with WasteMINZ and Waste Not Consulting to come up with a set of indicators that you can use to present and compare waste data. The indicators are:
- 1A – All waste to Class 1 landfills
- 1B – Waste to Class 1 landfills excl. special waste
- 2A – Domestic kerbside waste disposal rate
- 2B – Domestic waste disposal rate
- 3A – Domestic kerbside recycling recovery rate
- 3B – Domestic recycling recovery rate
- 3C – Domestic kerbside recycling contamination rate
All the above indicators are expressed in Kg per capita per annum. For a copy of the indicators and how to calculate them click the download button.
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by Duncan Wilson | 16 Mar 2018 | Councils, News, Presentation, Recent, Reports, Waste
This free webinar on solid waste bylaws was organised by WasteMINZ. It will be invaluable for any TA considering introducing or amending their bylaw or looking to implement the National Waste Data Framework.
During 2017, Eunomia Research & Consulting worked with the Waikato and Bay of Plenty region councils to develop a solid waste bylaw template. The template has been legally reviewed and provides draft clauses for all issues councils are likely to want to cover in their bylaw. It is freely available through WasteMINZ which contributed to the project. The template has been used by a range of councils since it was developed.
The live webinar was on 05 April, 2018. A recording of the webinar is now available if you were not able to join us at the time.
To access the webinar recording, click the button below.
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by Duncan Wilson | 2 Aug 2017 | article, News, Policy, Recent, Reports, Waste
Duncan Wilson is featured in the August issue of Local Government magazine, talking about the recent Eunomia report on New Zealand’s waste levy. Click the button below to download a copy of the article.
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by Duncan Wilson | 31 Jul 2017 | Reports, Waste
Eunomia has constructed this handy downloadable calculator to help landfill owners assess the potential financial impact of applying for a waste composition or capture and destruction Unique Emissions Factor (UEF).
The file runs in excel and requires version 2003 or more recent. You will also need to enable macros for it to run. If you have any questions or feedback please get in touch at info@eunomia.co.nz
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For more information on Unique Emissions Factors for waste see: Guide to Landfill Methane in the ETS
by Duncan Wilson | 23 Jul 2017 | Councils, News, Recent, Recycling, Reports, Waste
Eunomia worked with Auckland Council to produce this zero waste events guide. The guide is designed for the non-waste specialist, in particular event managers. It will help you reduce the amount of waste your events produce and work towards zero waste. It also signposts to useful detail in appendices and special case studies (available from Auckland Council), so you can drill down where you need more information.
Click the button to download a copy of the main guide.
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The key information is also available online through the zero waste events website. Click the link below:
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by Duncan Wilson | 2 Jul 2017 | News, Organic, Policy, Recent, Recycling, Reports, Strategy, Sustainability, Waste
Eunomia Research & Consulting undertook research to improve understanding of the impacts of possible changes to the structure and rate of the Waste Disposal Levy.
The study, which was commissioned by a consortium of businesses and councils, showed that there are likely to be real benefits for NZ through putting in place a well-structured levy regime. The research found there would be significant benefits in terms of waste minimisation, employment, and the economy. Key features should include:
- Extending the levy to all types of fills
- A large increase in the rate of the levy
- A differential between ‘active’ waste and ‘inert’ waste
- An escalation to the target rates over time
- Increased monitoring and enforcement, and
- Targeted spending of levy income.
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by Duncan Wilson | 22 Jun 2017 | article, News, Procurement, Recycling, Waste
Rubbish collections are considered by many to be core council business. But the market has been changing. Rethinking old ways can deliver better economic, environmental and community outcomes.
Read Duncan Wilson’s article in Local Government magazine about council versus private rubbish collections.
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by Duncan Wilson | 5 Jun 2017 | Marine, Policy, Reports, Sustainability, Waste
This report, from Eunomia UK, highlights the potential for a measures-based approach to be more effective at tackling marine plastic litter than setting targets.
Marine plastics are an emerging issue facing policy makers. However, the information we currently have on the impacts of marine plastics is limited. This makes it challenging to identify what a ‘socially optimal’ level of marine plastic pollution would be. The lack of information seems to be encouraging a wide spectrum of policy responses, which range from a complete ban on many kinds of plastic at one extreme, to “do nothing until we’ve improved our data” at the other.
This document reflects upon the data challenge and explains why detailed monitoring of marine litter is difficult, expensive and ultimately, perhaps, unnecessary. It argues that setting reduction targets for marine plastics is unlikely to be effective policy. Instead, it proposes a “Best Available Technique” approach to the selection of measures, similar to the way in which industrial emissions are addressed.
This report is available free of charge. Press the button below to download.
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by mmwd | 12 Apr 2017 | Recent, Recycling, Reports
In this report, prepared jointly with Resource Media, we analyse recycling data from around the world to understand which countries really lead the municipal waste recycling league table.
Some eye-catching headline recycling rates are reported in the media, but the basis on which rates are calculated can vary considerably. In some cases, a great deal of commercial or construction waste is counted, while approaches to accounting for rejects and for intermediate processes like MBT vary considerably. Even within the UK, the four nations now report their recycling on different bases, with Defra producing an annual set of figures that allow the results to be compared on an equal footing.
Both the OECD and the European Commission produce annual municipal waste and recycling statistics, which eliminate some (but far from all) of the inconsistencies. However, there are a few high recyclers that are members of neither organisation – Singapore and Taiwan, for example, report recycling rates above 55%. Bringing these data together allow us to present a world league table of reported recycling rates, which shows Germany as the world leader on 66%.
This is only the start of the story, though, as these figures don’t really compare like with like. Taking account of the different ways of counting, Germany remains in top spot, but is less than two percentage points ahead of Taiwan, which rises to second place, while Wales is in third.
The report also shows the rapid progress that Wales is making, and that the coutry is rapidly closing in on Germany’s established place at the top of the chart.
This report is available free of charge. Press the silver button and supply a few details about yourself in order to access the download.
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