{"id":497575,"date":"2026-06-27T02:48:33","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T02:48:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/497575\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T02:48:33","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T02:48:33","slug":"whanganuis-rural-rubbish-service-under-the-microscope-as-part-of-councils-waste-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/497575\/","title":{"rendered":"Whanganui\u2019s rural rubbish service under the microscope as part of council\u2019s waste plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

She said 15% of what was in the bins was \u201cactually general rubbish but, sadly, 2% of that was hazardous waste\u201d.<\/p>\n

Public feedback was gathered as part of the assessment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is probably preaching to the converted, but illegal dumping was the top issue,\u201d Harrison said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve heard quite a lot and we\u2019ve seen quite a lot of mismanagement at the rural bin sites. <\/p>\n

\u201cJust general disrespect for the sites, I think. We see huge amounts of rubbish scattered.\u201d<\/p>\n

The assessment by consultants Tonkin and Taylor, presented to the council in May<\/a>, said reported illegal dumps in the district had increased from just under 500 in 2021 to 650 in 2025 but not all offenders could be identified.<\/p>\n

\" Whanganui District Council waste manager Morgan Harrison.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this case, council staff will sort the waste and separate what is able to be recycled before disposing of the rest.\u201d<\/p>\n

The council\u2019s litter team costs ratepayers about $180,000 a year. <\/p>\n

At the June 17 meeting, Harrison said as part of its waste management and minimisation plan (WMMP), the council would review the rural service to ensure it was fit for purpose.<\/p>\n

She wanted to work with the board to set up pre-engagement sessions with the rural community.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s residents, but it\u2019s also our farmers and how they manage their farming waste on-site.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are going to see a farm plastics and agrichemical stewardship scheme in place in the next 12 to 24 months, I hope, and that\u2019s from MFE [the Ministry for the Environment].\u201d<\/p>\n

Board chairman Jack Bullock asked if \u201crural satellite recycling set-ups\u201d would be explored, which Harrison confirmed.<\/p>\n

The council\u2019s kerbside recycling network, introduced July 1, 2024, covers<\/a> Whanganui\u2019s urban areas and rural settlements Mowhanau, Fordell and Marybank.<\/p>\n

Those outside the network need to use the Whanganui Resource Recovery Centre<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bullock told the Chronicle rural recycling needed expansion and the WMMP, updated every six years, was \u201can opportunity to get it right\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe key to this is diverting or minimising the amount of waste we send to landfill, and we can\u2019t do that if there are just skip bins at these sites,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to be providing the infrastructure there.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere could even be dedicated scrap metal bins on site. Materials get sent to Molten Metals and a bit of money is recouped.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harrison said the council wanted to hear from the rural community about measures to help reduce waste, improve recycling and make services more accessible.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe plan to have a separate conversation with communities who use particular rural bin sites about whether they are still fit for purpose in their current locations,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

A draft WMMP will be presented in September, with public consultation in October and November, and the final document approved in February.<\/p>\n

Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily Whanganui District Council.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"She said 15% of what was in the bins was \u201cactually general rubbish but, sadly, 2% of that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":497576,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[806,124,5205,7558,44295,7557,273,6108,248796,111,139,69,1118,5202,2170,38019,3175,147,2552,662,18988,223,8238,25361,1883,21083],"class_list":["post-497575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-as","tag-could","tag-council","tag-councils","tag-developing","tag-district","tag-environment","tag-microscope","tag-minimisation","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-part","tag-plan","tag-rubbish","tag-rural","tag-science","tag-service","tag-shakeup","tag-sites","tag-the","tag-under","tag-waste","tag-whanganui","tag-whanganuis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=497575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497575\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/497576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=497575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=497575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}