It's a statutory plan that every council must review at least every six years. The plan sets out how Council will promote waste minimisation, manage waste services and support resource recovery across the district.

Since the 2021 WMMP, we have introduced rates-funded wheelie bin collections and weekly food scraps collections. We’ve also expanded recycling services, introduced e-waste and battery drop-off options, and supported waste education programmes.

Yes. The waste assessment found that:

• diverted material increased by nearly 13% between 2023/24 and 2024/25

• kerbside recycling increased

• food scraps collections increased

• food waste in rubbish bins has reduced since 2020.

Some of our main challenges (as highlighted in the waste assessment) are:

• ageing refuse transfer stations

• food and garden waste still going to landfill

• managing e-waste and batteries

• increasing construction and demolition waste

• limited data about private waste streams

• future landfill capacity and disposal costs.

Yes. The district's population is projected to grow by more than 40% by 2073, which means more households, more construction activity and more waste to manage.

The Waste Minimisation Act requires councils to review their plans at least every six years. This review helps ensure our waste services continue to meet community needs and respond to changing regulations and costs.

The Waste Assessment does not recommend immediate changes to kerbside services. Instead, it helps identify future opportunities and priorities for Council to consider through the WMMP.

Food waste remains one of the largest components of rubbish sent to landfill. When food breaks down in landfill it creates methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Diverting food waste is one of the biggest opportunities to reduce landfill volumes.

Resource recovery means finding ways to reuse, recycle, repair or compost materials instead of sending them to landfill.

The WMMP itself does not make funding decisions. Any future projects or service changes would be considered through normal Council decision-making and budget processes.

Landfill costs are increasing and the district relies heavily on facilities outside its boundaries. National policy is also increasingly focused on reducing waste and recovering valuable resources.

The WMMP sets the direction for waste management and minimisation, while the Long Term Plan is where future funding and investment decisions are considered. The current approach is to keep the WMMP review light, update the evidence, actions and targets, and include flexibility in the LTP for future waste infrastructure decisions once there is more certainty about regional landfill and resource recovery options.

The Waste Assessment estimates that we (Matamata-Piako) send about 13,856 tonnes of waste to Class 1 landfill each year, or around 266 tonnes each week. This is an indicative baseline because some private waste data is limited.

The Waste Assessment indicates that around 53.1% of waste going to landfill could potentially be diverted through recycling, composting or other recovery. Organics are the largest opportunity, making up about 36.1% of landfill waste.

Council is considering a light review rather than a full rewrite. This means keeping the current structure, updating figures and targets, aligning the plan with current national waste direction, and refreshing actions around kerbside contamination, food and green waste, construction and demolition waste, farm waste, textiles, transfer station planning, data collection and regional collaboration.

Sending waste to landfill is becoming more expensive, and future disposal options may involve longer transport distances. Reducing what goes to landfill, recovering more useful material, improving data and planning infrastructure investment carefully can help us avoid unnecessary costs and make better long-term decisions.

Households can make a significant difference by using food scraps, recycling and rubbish services correctly, reducing contamination and keeping reusable or compostable material out of rubbish bins. Businesses also have an important role, particularly where they generate larger waste streams such as construction and demolition waste, packaging, food waste, rural waste or commercial recycling.

The plan is being updated to reflect the Waste Minimisation Act requirements, the waste hierarchy and the Government’s current Waste and Resource Efficiency Strategy. It supports the national direction to reduce waste disposal per person, increase reuse and recycling, and reduce environmental harm from waste and litter.

We already support waste minimisation through kerbside food scraps and recycling services, community education, targeted communications, resource recovery initiatives and waste minimisation grants. The refreshed WMMP is expected to continue behaviour-change work, with a focus on keeping organics and recyclables out of rubbish bins and improving how people use existing services.