Amy Adams25 October,
2012
A world-leading recycling facility opened
today by Environment Minister Amy Adams
will compost millions of disposable nappies
each year.
The purpose-built plant
in Upper Hutt will break down disposable
nappies into a safe, odourless compost,
instead of sending them to landfill.
"This is the sort
of initiative that this Government wants
to back. It is the first of its kind in
the world to be composting nappies and is
a great example of a New Zealand business
taking the lead in waste minimisation,"
Ms Adams says.
It is estimated there
are about 17,500 babies aged under two and
a half in the Wellington region wearing
disposable nappies, producing more than
6600 tonnes of waste each year.
EnviroComp aims to compost
about 1000 tonnes of this waste each year
through its Upper Hutt plant – about five
million nappies - with capacity for the
plant to quadruple in size.
The company has already
composted about 16 million nappies at its
North Canterbury operation since it opened
in 2009.
EnviroComp was awarded
$730,000 from the Government’s Waste Minimisation
Fund to carry out a feasibility study and
then set up the plant.
The Waste Minimisation
Fund provides financial support to projects
which increase resource efficiency and decrease
the amount of waste going to landfill. Money
for the fund comes from a waste levy charged
on material disposed of at landfills.
"Supporting a project
like EnviroComp’s is a practical way the
Government can encourage New Zealanders
to reuse, recycle, recover and decrease
the amount of waste going to our landfills.
"I encourage other
manufacturers and distributors to take responsibility
for the environmental impacts of their products
once they reach the end of their lifecycle."
+ More
Further RMA changes
to help project planning
Amy Adams29 October,
2012
Environment Minister Amy Adams today announced
the Government will introduce a six-month
time limit on the council processing of
medium-sized consents to avoid unnecessary
costs and long, drawn-out processes for
all parties.
“The costs, uncertainty
and delays of the current system are affecting
New Zealand jobs, infrastructure and productivity,”
Ms Adams says.
“I often hear from applicants
that the issue is not so much what they
can and can’t do, but rather the time and
cost to get an answer.
“It is causing economic
frustrations for those wanting to progress
important developments, including housing
subdivisions, supermarkets, industrial developments
or infrastructure projects that collectively
are worth hundreds of millions of dollars,
and leaving communities with uncertainty
for far too long.”
There are about 1600
medium sized projects processed each year.
“The proposed changes
I am announcing today will help give certainty
to communities and developers by reducing
the time limit for consents by about one
third – from the current average of nine
months to six months.
“This is not about changing
the basis on which the final decision is
reached, but getting the decision more quickly
to give certainty.”
A 2012 analysis of notified
resource consent applications processed
by 14 local authorities showed decisions
took between 45 and more than 1000 days
to reach, with the average being nine months.
Two significant reasons
why the consent process can be lengthy are
that there is no absolute time limit for
decisions to be made, and the processing
of consent applications can stop and re-start.
Stoppages are usually
related to the need for further information
the applicant has not provided at the start
of the process.
The proposed changes
will speed up the process in a number of
ways, including strengthening the requirements
for resource consent applicants to include
all relevant information in an application
when it is lodged with a council.
This includes details
of the development and assessments against
national, regional and local planning documents
and an assessment of any effects. This will
then be supplemented with strict time limits
on council processes at stages of the consent.
It is also proposed
that consent applications for large regional
projects can be directly referred to the
Environment Court more easily.
These projects would
be smaller than nationally significant projects
but still involve major investment. Council
would be required to permit the direct referral
if the application met certain criteria,
unless there was good reason not to.
The proposal also includes
measures to improve the quality of cost-benefit
analysis undertaken by councils to support
important planning decisions.
“Resource management
decisions being made at a local level can
have far-reaching effects on economic growth.
Elected councillors need to have the right
information to give them that context to
ensure there is tangible evidence sitting
behind analysis of the benefits, costs and
risks of decisions and that these are made
public.”
The proposed changes
will be part of the Government’s Resource
Management Reform Bill, to be introduced
later this year.
The Government will
also soon be consulting on wider reforms
to the resource management system planned
for next year.
These could include
options such as having one resource management
plan per local authority to deliver more
co-ordination between land-use planning,
infrastructure and transport investment,
plus supporting councils with consistent
approaches to planning future areas for
development and more efficient planning
processes.
“I will be announcing
the process of achieving those wider resource
management objectives later this year,”
Ms Adams says.
“Resource management
reform is a key part of this Government’s
Business Growth Agenda. We need a resource
management system that enables growth, provides
good environmental outcomes and can adapt
to changing values, pressures and technology.”
Questions and Answers:
What is the purpose
of the six-month time frame?
To give businesses and
communities greater certainty about how
long it will take for decisions to be made
on medium-sized resource consent applications.
Under the current process, the date by which
decisions will be made on consent applications
are uncertain and delays that can occur
during the process are difficult to forecast.
Uncertainty and delays cause problems for
businesses when the wider project involves
complex project planning and significant
financial investment. Long delays before
decisions can also have negative impacts
on communities.
What type of resource
consent applications will the six-month
time frame relate to?
The Government is proposing
a 130-working day (six-month) time frame
for notified applications and a 100-working
day time limit for limited notified applications.
This will affect developments like large
housing subdivisions, retirement villages,
infrastructure projects, milk and manufacturing
processing plants, surface and ground water
extraction and gravel extraction, and new
retail or industrial developments.
What difference would
the six-month limit make to the time to
decide consent applications?
The average time to
reach a decision on a medium sized consent
is currently about nine months.
If the council requests
further information from an applicant, does
the clock stop on the six-month time frame
until this information is provided?
The first time the council
requests information, the consent processing
clock will stop, but only after the third
working day following the council’s request.
This means that applications will not be
delayed if the applicant can provide the
information quickly. The council can request
additional information but they will only
be able to stop the processing clock on
the first occasion.
A new provision is also
proposed which will allow applicants to
place their applications on hold for up
to 130 working days (six months). If an
application is on hold for a total of more
than six months, then the council can cancel
the application. This gives all the parties
certainty over the timeframe for the decision
to be made.
Will the six-month time
limit affect public submissions and hearings?
The six month time limit
provides a 20-day submission period, the
same as the current system. The six-month
limit includes time for hearings, as well
as deliberations and time taken for commissioners
to write decisions. The added certainty
around the time period for the whole process
means that hearings can be planned well
in advance, helping applicants, submitters
and councils plan their time to prepare
their evidence and attend the hearing.
Is there a risk that
decisions will be made that preclude the
full range of evidence being considered?
The requirements for
lodging a complete application with the
council will be clarified and strengthened
for all application types. This means that
applicants will have a clearer idea of what
information and assessments the council
will need to see with the application and
the required information for decision-making
is provided at the start of the consent.
It also means that councils will be able
to get on with processing applications as
soon as they are lodged. All together this
will provide a quicker and more certain
process for all participants without reducing
the information needed. Councils will still
have the opportunity to ask for further
information from applicants.
Will the council retain
the power to extend time limits?
Yes. Timeframes can
still be extended under the current tests
in the RMA – i.e. if special circumstances
apply or if the applicant agrees (section
37).
Will the Resource Management
(Discount on Administrative Charges) Regulations
apply to the six-month timeframe requirements?
Yes. The Regulations
will be amended to apply to the new timeframes
for both limited notified and notified applications.
The Regulations require Councils to refund
a proportion of the application fee if they
don’t meet time limits. The discount is
1 per cent for each working day over the
100/130 working day limit, up to a maximum
of 50 per cent.
+ More
Great response to TV
recycling programme
Amy Adams31 October,
2012
More than 16,000 televisions have been dropped
off for recycling in the first month of
the Government’s TV Takeback programme,
Environment Minister Amy Adams says.
With Hawke's Bay and
the West Coast the first regions to make
the switch to digital television, they are
the first involved in the programme.
More than 15,000 televisions
have been dropped off for recycling in Hawke’s
Bay and 1200 on the West Coast.
The programme will be
rolled out around the rest of New Zealand
to coincide with the digital switch over
in each region.
The TV TakeBack programme
aims to divert up to 500,000 televisions
from going to landfill in an initiative
that involves the Government partnering
with a range of recyclers and retailers
to provide a nationwide network of subsidised
options.
“I am delighted with
the initial response to the programme. It
shows that people are keen to play their
part in caring for the environment by making
sure their unwanted televisions are recycled,”
Ms Adams says.
“The commitment in Hawke’s
Bay and the West Coast has already diverted
more than 300 tonnes of waste from landfill
that will now be safely recycled and reused.”
The programme also raises
investment in New Zealand’s recycling capacity
and will lay the foundation for a more permanent
solution for electronic waste.
“A greater understanding
of the need and how to recycle unwanted
televisions and other electronic waste is
essential.
“Televisions pose a
threat to the environment if they are disposed
of in landfills or dumped elsewhere, so
the Government wants to make sure all New
Zealanders can access affordable electronic
recycling services.”
The initiative is being
funded via the Government’s Waste Minimisation
Fund. Money for the Fund comes from a waste
levy charged on material disposed of at
landfills.
