- Hon David Parker
The Government has announced funding for projects in Auckland and the lower North Island to help reduce construction and demolition waste.
"Construction is the main source of waste sent to landfill, and much of this could be reduced, reused and recovered," Environment Minister David Parker said.
"The Government is funding initiatives that will enable New Zealanders to reuse material and reduce the amount of waste going to landfill. Reducing construction and demolition waste will also help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. That's a win, win for the climate and the environment."
"Diverting construction waste from landfill is another step towards helping New Zealand become a low waste, low emissions economy."
The Auckland Council Waste Management and Minimisation Plan 2018 found that 86 per cent of the 1.6 million tonnes of waste sent to landfill in 2016 came from commercial, construction, demolition, infrastructure, and other activities.
Auckland-based Waste Revolution will receive $1.1 million funding to create a commercial resource and recovery centre for the storage and redistribution of material. The new centre will sort and store waste materials from the construction, demolition and commercial industries which will then be sold to the construction industry and wider public
"This initiative is a great example of a circular solution that encourages reusing materials which would otherwise end up in landfill. We expect this project to redirect 3,500 tonnes of waste material each year and create new jobs," David Parker said.
Waste Revolution is a collaborative initiative between Junk Run and Kiwi Recycling.
Further south, Central Environmental will receive $750,000 to set up a construction and demolition waste processing facility in Feilding. Materials, including concrete, native timber and building materials, will be recycled and reused.
The new facility will be able to process 80,000 tonnes a year and will service the Manawatu/South Taranaki and Northern Wellington region.
"There is limited capacity to process and recover construction and demolition waste in the lower North Island currently, so this new facility will quickly reduce the amount of waste going into landfill around the region." David Parker said.
In Porirua, for instance, over 50 per cent of waste disposed to landfill comes from construction and demolition (approximately 32,000 tonnes a year).
"Reflecting this, we will provide $164,250 to Porirua City Council to determine if a construction and demolition recycling facility is feasible in Porirua," David Parker said.
These initiatives will be funded through the Waste Minimisation Fund's 2020 round, administered by the Environment Ministry.
Today's announcement follows last week's announcement of funding for projects to reduce food waste in Christchurch, Nelson, Napier, Northland, Dunedin, Queenstown and Auckland.
Applications for the 2021 Waste Minimisation funding round are being considered. The 2021 round continues a focus on construction and demolition waste as well as organic waste.
