Strategic documents

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.

Download WMMP

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.

Download waste assessment

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.

Download waste strategy 

The waste strategy is the Ministry for the Environment’s roadmap for the next three decades for a low-emissions, low-waste society built upon a circular economy.

It recognises the need to balance:

• our strong ambition with the reality of where we are now
• the complexity of the task ahead
• the amount of work we need to do

The vision for 2050: Aotearoa New Zealand is a low-emissions, low-waste society built upon a circular economy. We cherish our inseparable connection with the natural environment and look after the planet’s finite resources with care and responsibility.

By 2030, our enabling systems are working well and behaviour is changing

• The building blocks are in place to enable change
• More activity is circular and we produce less waste
• Emissions and other environmental indicators are improving

By 2040, circular management of materials is normal, expected and well supported

• Circular activity is widespread
• Residual waste is minimal
• Emissions and other environmental indicators keep improving

By 2050, New Zealand has a low-emission low-waste circular economy and is helping other countries make the change

• Domestic systems are as circular as possible
• Aotearoa is contributing to regional and global circular networks
• Our management of materials does not harm the environment

An Action and Investment Plan (AIP) is due to be released in 2024. This will focus on what is needed to deliver on the waste strategy including:

• the immediate priorities for the next five years in different geographical areas, communities, material streams and risk areas
• the mix of regulatory, investment, infrastructure, systems and behavioural change and other actions planned to address the immediate priorities
• the sequence of the actions and how they fit together

Read the NZ Waste Strategy

Read the summary document