Tag: Auckland

Organic Food Waste Trial Gives Insight to Wider Roll Out Next Year

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92% of respondents were positive of the trial

 

From Auckland Council

Organics collection trial offers food for thought for future service

 

 

Most participants think Auckland Council’s planned new organics collection service is a good idea, according to an independent survey of households in the trial.

Halfway through the organics trial on Auckland’s North Shore valuable feedback is flowing in on how council can create a user-friendly food waste collection service with 92 per cent of those surveyed saying the trial is a good idea.

Participants separate food scraps and other organic matter such as paper towels, tea bags and indoor cut flowers from their usual rubbish collection so it can be collected weekly and turned into compost.

Trial participants’ comments are also helping council better understand how people are adapting to the service and what effect it has on waste minimisation, before its planned roll out across urban Auckland.

Auckland Council Solid Waste Operations Manager Warwick Jaine, says the council is

pleased with results so far, but it is also aware that some people have concerns, about everything from the durability, size and fit of the kitchen caddy liners to odour issues from fortnightly council rubbish collection.

“We’re listening to all feedback and investigating solutions, such as maintaining weekly council rubbish pick up for a few years, to help ease the transition when an organics collection is introduced throughout urban Auckland,” said Mr Jaine.

 

The organics collection trial has been running since May, across nearly 2000 households in parts of Northcote, Milford and Takapuna, chosen to largely reflect Auckland’s demographics.

So far 85 per cent of households in the trial have put out their organics bin at least once, while 75 per cent are regular users of the weekly service. Both figures are well above the trial’s participation targets.

In eight weeks, the trial has diverted 31 tonnes of food waste from landfill to be processed into compost.

The trial evaluation includes a survey of randomly selected households in the trial area undertaken by Gravitas Research and Strategy, an independent research company.

A new rates-funded urban organics collection service was one of a suite of projects promised in the council’s Waste Management and Minimisation Plan of 2012 and is intended to significantly reduce waste to landfill.

 

Survey information

A survey of 337 residents in the trial area undertaken between 4 June and 27 June 2014.

A total of 92 per cent of respondents thought the organics collection was a good idea for Auckland. Of that number, 67 per cent said it was a very good idea, and 25 per cent said it was a good idea. Four per cent said it was neither a good nor bad idea, one per cent each said it was a poor or very poor idea, and another one per cent each were not sure yet or didn’t know.

When asked how satisfied or dissatisfied they were with aspects of the organics collection trial, 87 per cent of respondents said they were satisfied with the organics, recycling and rubbish collection service overall as a way to manage household waste.

Another five per cent said they were dissatisfied, while seven per cent were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, and one per cent did not answer this question.

The trial evaluation also includes further qualitative research, to explore the initial findings in more depth and a follow up survey at the end of the trial.

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The new waste collection system which is meant to have three bins (general, recycling and organic) starts in 2015

 

Council CEO Responds In-Kind

· 2 Comments ·

Roughhan writes an opinion, Stephen Town Responds

 

Yesterday John Roughan wrote an opinion piece in the NZ Herald yesterday comparing Minister of Finance Bill English to Auckland Mayor Len Brown over finances.

You can read the opinion piece over at the Herald but below is an introductory excerpt:

John Roughan: Auckland should not lose services

5:00 AM Saturday Jul 12, 2014
Bill English has balanced a budget without ‘random amputations’
English believes the targets serve a greater purpose in changing the way the public service works. Photo / NZ Herald

Auckland is being softened up for a reduction in public services. Something has to go we are told — inorganic rubbish collections, maybe — if the mayor is to keep rates from rising beyond his election promise. Aucklanders should not listen to this.

The Super City was given a mayoral office with more powers than any elected position in New Zealand local government has previously enjoyed. It is our first “executive mayoralty”. The office has the power to draft the city’s budget and the staff to oversee the council’s operations. It has become obvious this week that Len Brown has not used it.

From the time he was first elected he has staffed the office predominantly with political advisers and publicists who churn out press statements and articles about visions and plans for some future “liveable city” in response to every problem that arises in the present.

Meanwhile, the monster bureaucracy created by the amalgamation of Auckland’s previous municipalities goes about its work in its own way at its own pace, not noticeably troubled by any scrutiny from the office of the executive mayor.

When a city is asked to accept reduced services for more cost, in the middle of an economic boom, something is seriously wrong. Staff are suggesting the council will need to find savings by means such as ending inorganic rubbish collections and reducing library hours or park maintenance, to keep rate rises within reason. The council’s limp majority will probably go along with this nonsense.

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Source: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11292074

 

Now we know people have all sorts of opinions about the Council and its finances. That said a response from the Council – more to the point CEO Stephen Town came through earlier today. This is what he had to say:

Response to the Weekend Herald editorial

Dear Sir

When John Roughan describes the unified Auckland Council as an ‘under-working morass of inefficiency’, what exactly is he referring to? Could it be the $1.7bn in cost and efficiency savings under the new Council, is it the vastly improved consenting times or a better relationship with central government? Perhaps it’s our AA credit rating, historic investment in public transport, or the most stable and low rates rises in decades?

We know we can do better, but we’re also proud of what our staff and Councillors have achieved in three and a half short years – to improve services, keep costs low for Aucklanders and invest for the future.

Over the next 12 months the Council will take the next big step – a 10 year budget aligned to Auckland’s priorities. There will be tough choices ahead for our city’s leaders. But as the Mayor has said, it’s also a historic opportunity to transform our city for the better. That’s something that’s worthy of a thoughtful and informed discussion with Aucklanders – and something we hope the Herald will want to be part of.

Yours sincerely,

Stephen Town
Chief Executive
Auckland Council

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Source: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK1407/S00238/response-to-the-weekend-herald-editorial.htm

 

The debate continues