Southland District Mayoral candidate Kirsty Pickett says southern councils are failing in their joint commitment to waste minimisation and an urgent reset is needed.

As a first priority, glass should be separated in the recycling collection to immediately reduce the amount of waste going to landfill and improve the viability of other recyclable materials, she said.

More work was also needed to properly educate people about recycling and how important their role was in the process.

"Nearly a quarter of everything that currently passes through the Recycle South sorting line is redirected to landfill because it is contaminated – that’s a combination of bad decisions by people when filling their yellow-top bins, but also the glass fragments that end up throughout otherwise viable recyclables."

"It’s ludicrous that we’re advised to wrap and dispose of broken glass in our red rubbish bins, but intact bottles and jars go into the yellow recycling bin only to be smashed to smithereens and compacted with paper, cardboard and plastics during the collection process."

Southland District Mayoral candidate Kirsty Pickett

Since the early 2000s, the Invercargill City, Gore and Southland District Councils have committed to a shared business unit for waste management and minimisation, under the name WasteNet.

"WasteNet’s vision is for the region to be a minimum waste producer, but it caveats that by saying radical behavioural changes will be required over the next decade. I say radical behavioural changes are needed right now and that starts at the top," Pickett said.

The Waste Advisory Group, comprising two elected members from each council, is the ‘high level decision-making committee for the implementation and carrying out of the WasteNet activities’ but it does not seem to have held a formal meeting since 2020, Pickett said.

"That advisory group was told two years ago that a national standardisation of recycling and kerbside collections was on the horizon and that separating glass was considered best practice, but there appear to have been no moves made towards achieving that, and certainly no conversations started with the community."

WasteNet had acknowledged that public confidence in recycling was wavering and that the hoped-for progress in waste reduction had not been achieved, yet the joint Waste Management and Minimisation Plan talks of adopting a ‘holding pattern’, Pickett said.

"New Zealand has declared a climate emergency. A genuine commitment to waste minimisation is one of the most effective and efficient ways councils can immediately contribute to climate change mitigation. Adopting a holding pattern is no way to respond to an emergency."

Pickett said she was an advocate for councils working together to drive efficiencies and reduce waste. WasteNet was the right vehicle, but those governing it had been asleep at the wheel, she said.

"Nobody is driving this. I’m standing on a platform of ‘we’re better together’ so as Mayor I would make it a priority to lead re-engagement with the other two councils to focus on waste minimisation for the social, economic and environmental benefit of, not only the Southland District, but the entire Southland province."