Zero Waste Strategy text version (1.03MB RTF)
Our goal is to achieve intergenerational sustainability by moving to a circular economy. In a circular economy, economic activity is disconnected from the use of finite resources. Products and materials are kept in use for as long as possible, and waste that can’t be reused or recycled is safely managed.
Zero waste is an ambitious target for Wellington. It signals a significant shift in how we as city think about waste, the services and infrastructure we provide, and how businesses, residents and the Council can contribute to making a difference for our city’s environmental, societal, and economic future. To deliver this strategy’s objectives, collective responsibility and action is critical.
Our targets
- Reduce total waste to landfill by 50 percent by 2030
- Reduce per capita kerbside waste by 40 percent by 2030
- Divert 50-70 percent of organic waste from landfill by 2030
- Divert 50 percent of construction and demolition waste from landfill by 2030 and 70 percent of construction and demolition waste from landfill by 2035
- Reduce biogenic methane gas by at least 30 percent by 2035
Our objectives
Products and services provided in Wellington are waste free.
We aim to avoid unnecessary resource use and to design waste and pollution out.
To do this we will shift the focus to the top of the waste hierarchy and avoid waste by influencing suppliers and changing business and individual practices to prevent waste being generated in the first place.
Waste reduction is made attractive and accessible to Wellingtonians.
We aim to make it convenient for residents, businesses, and consumers to reduce and recycle their waste.
We’ll aim to influence behaviours by making it easy to do the right things, such as repairing goods, considering second-hand, using reusable instead of throw-away items, or borrowing items, and facilitating composting, recycling, and community sharing.
Infrastructure and systems to increase resource circularity are in place.
We aim to decrease virgin material use and recover and process products and materials to keep resources in circulation for as long as possible.
We need to ensure we have the right facilities and infrastructure to return resources into valuable outputs and decrease the need for virgin resources.
Waste that cannot be avoided, reduced, reused, repaired, or recycled is managed safely.
We aim to treat waste infrastructure built today as a finite resource and carefully manage it, working to preserve its capacity and lifespan as long as possible and without harm or leakage to the environment.
This highlights the role of the landfill in supporting city resilience, and the need to manage the landfill to ensure the health and safety of our people and environment.
He anamata para kore mō Pōneke - A Zero Waste Future for Wellington will be a living strategy that is updated regularly, as our waste system and the technology available evolves.
Our projects
We have a huge programme of work underway that will make it easier for you to reduce, reuse and recycle, all of it guided by our zero waste strategy: He anamata para kore mō Pōneke - A zero waste future for Wellington.
Our zero waste projects: