The Government has announced a consultation on changes to the waste disposal levy. The proposals would see the rate of the levy increase to $50-$60 a tonne by 2023 for waste to class 1 landfills. The levy would also be extended to cover classes 2-4 landfills at lower rates of $10-$20 a tonne. Eunomia NZ Director Duncan Wilson was interviewed on Radio NZ’s nine to noon programme about the Governments proposed changes to the waste disposal levy.
Ever wondered where the rubber on your tyres goes when it wears off? Eunomia Senior Consultant Dr Chiarina Darrah took part in a panel discussion on the problem of microplastics from tyre wear at this year’s Fully Charged Live.
The festival of clean energy technologies and electric vehicles took place over 7th–9th June at Silverstone, UK. Fully Charged is a YouTube channel exploring electric vehicles and renewable energy, hosted by writer, broadcaster and actor Robert Llewellyn and Jonny Smith.
Chiarina appeared on Sunday 9th in a session titled ‘What you need to know about particulate & tyre pollution’. She drew on our work on emissions of microplastics into the environment to discuss the scale of the problem, potential policy solutions and what consumers can do to help. The panel was chaired by physicist, oceanographer and broadcaster Helen Czerski, and also featured Richard Lofthouse of Emissions Analytics, independent specialists for the measurement of real-world emissions, and G Erlendsson of Enso Tyres, a manufacturer of sustainable tyres for electric vehicles.
You can view the video below:
The Ministry for the Environment has released the Situational Analysis report Eunomia wrote last year. Our work analysed the impact of China’s moves to ban scrap material imports on the New Zealand recycling industry. You can download a copy here:
The situational analysis report has also been quoted in the media:
This was part of the Government’s announcement about it’s plans to assist the recycling industry in response to the recycling market crisis. One of the key recommendations was to develop more onshore processing of recovered materials.
Darebin City Council (DCC) in Melbourne, Australia were the first in the world to declare a climate emergency in December 2016.
We have been appointed to help the council to determine what practical actions they can take to meaningfully reduce the amount of carbon that they currently emit through their waste management practices. We are working with our UK office, as well as Australian engineering consultancy Irwinconsult.
As a result of the declaration, the council has produced a Climate Emergency Plan, which outlines the objectives and actions that DCC will take to reduce their contribution to climate change. Our work with DCC addresses Key Direction No. 5: Consumption and Waste Minimisation. The aim of this directive is to reduce the amount of waste to landfill, including food waste and recycling.
Our team are working with DCC to examine the practical steps that they can take to reduce their carbon emissions from waste. This involves carrying out an assessment of the area’s current emissions, as well as evaluating the potential effectiveness of a range of options, including the potential for Energy from Waste and the use of biochar.
Since Darebin’s declaration, local authorities across the world have taken similar action, with dozens of councils having currently declared climate emergencies in the UK alone.
In advising the DCC, our team is drawing from its considerable track record in this area, which includes the development in 2010 of the ground-breaking Greenhouse Gas Emissions Performance Standard (EPS) for the Greater London Authority (GLA). Work for the GLA currently includes the provision of support to London boroughs to ensure that they comply with the EPS, as well as the development of progress updates on London’s performance against the standard.
You can download a presentation referring to our work here:
DownloadIn 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.
Click the button below to download article:
Or see the article in Revolve magazine:
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:
Eunomia Chairman Dr Dominic Hogg was interviewed on BBC World about China’s move to restrict imports of recycling. The restrictions are a wake up call for the recycling industry. While they will cause some short term pain, they also could provide an incentive to move to a system that is more sustainable. This will mean designing products and packaging so they can be reclaimed more easily, and putting in place better systems for collecting and sorting material so it is clean and has value.
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.
To download the article click the download button below:
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:
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.
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.
Eunomia worked with the WasteMINZ TA Forum to update the Local Government Waste Manifesto that we originally helped create in 2018. Since the first Manifesto was produced there have been a range of significant changes in the sector. These include the impacts of China’s ‘National Sword’ policy, the ongoing impacts of Covid 19 and the global economic recession, and a growing awareness around the need to tackle plastic pollution.
The updated Manifesto was released on 4 August 2020. It sets out a number of additional actions for Government that will enable real reductions in waste to landfill and reduce the costs borne by councils and their communities. Together with the original 5 actions, the key elements are:
To download a copy of the updated Manifesto click the download button below:
To download a copy of the orignial Manifesto click the download button below:
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.