This Plan was adopted by Council in September 2012. It is the result of a review of the Kawerau District Council Waste Management Plan 2005 and was prepared after and with regard to a waste assessment.
In the final Council Meeting of 2025, Kawerau District Council adopted the Waste Management and Minimisation Plan.
Councils are mandated by the Local Government Act 2002 to provide sanitation services as part of a comprehensive waste management framework also governed by various other legislative requirements.
A key aim of the plan is the diversion of waste streams away from landfill. Kawerau District Council is currently diverting 30 to 40% of the total waste away from landfill.
The driver to further reduce waste and divert recyclable and other material from landfill has multiple benefits with being better kaitiaki or stewards helping to reduce environmental impacts, ensuring materials are reused and kept in circulation longer and this achieves waste reductions that are affordable to the community.