Strategic documents
At Council, everything we do is guided by strategic direction (set by Council), legislation (set by the Government and enforced by the Ministry for the Environment) or best practice guidelines (set by the Ministry for the Environment or specialist groups like WasteMINZ or Zero Waste Network). We have the main strategic documents which guide and inform our work in waste minimisation and management below, and will continue to keep adding to the list when new strategy is released.
Waste Minimisation and Management Plan (WMMP)
Every six years we review our Waste Minimisation and Management Plan. This is a mandatory process that helps us comply with the law and (importantly) access waste levy funding from the Government that we can spend right here, in the Waipā, to reduce the amount of waste we send to landfill.
In early 2023 we released our draft WMMP and hit the streets to find out what YOU thought of our plan (does anyone remember our giant branded skip bin?!). We also had a bespoke website to collect submissions and received a huge amount of quality responses. We analysed every single piece of feedback and it informed our final WMMP, which was adopted by Council in late 2023.
Waipā Waste Assessment
As part of the WMMP review, we first had to complete a Waste Assessment Report.
This takes a good look at all the waste services in our district (private, Council and community-led) and existing infrastructure. It considers future demand, Government policy implications, carbon impacts, specific waste types and potential opportunities.
Waipā Waste Strategy 2017 – 2035
The Waipā Waste Strategy provides us with a longer-term view of waste management and minimisation activities over the next 18 years. Our vision is to build zero waste and sustainable communities.
The aim is to change attitudes to waste in Waipā by:
- changing our view of waste as a problem to waste as a resource - so there is no waste at all
- building our resource recovery capacity so that waste is reused and recycled back into our communities and local economy
- collecting, monitoring and using waste data to plan for the future
This strategy will guide the next three waste management and minimisation plans. Each plan will build on the previous until we have all the processes in place to embrace a circular economy where resources naturally flow back into production and reuse.
Aotearoa New Zealand Waste Strategy
The New Zealand waste and resource strategy outlines the Government's goals for reducing waste and improving how waste is managed.
It was introduced in March 2025 and replaces the older strategy called Te Rautaki Para, which was put in place by the previous Government in March 2023.
The main goals of this new strategy are to:
- Reduce the amount of waste each person throws away
- Increase the reuse and recycling of materials so we can keep valuable resources in use
- Lower emissions and environmental damage caused by waste and litter
- Manage waste disposal and recovery facilities in a way that minimises their impact on the environment
- Reduce the environmental harm from contaminated sites, including older sites that are still a problem.
