The focus of the " Waiheke Why Wait" group who chose to meet around the issue of waste on Waiheke, was to meet the challenge of influencing the decision makers within Auckland City Council that it would be in the best interests of the Council and the people of Waiheke to allow the present community run waste collection and processing to be the modus operandi for the foreseeable future.
We agreed to create a "Fact Sheet" for those who might need it, and this page is where we will gather and format that under a few key headings.
This can be found in summary form here.
A list of bullet points would be great here, to show how much has been achieved
There's some great information here on the "What we do" section of the WRT site.
This should list the key points in the process which has led to the suggestion that the use of Wheelie bins would be a good idea for Waiheke.
<FOR REFINEMENT> The council officers involved in the consultation with the Waiheke community that led to the (under threat) transfer station design reported that the process was well received by the community and that they were pleasantly surprised by the positive reception they received. It is likely that this was because it was a genuine consultation process which incorporated the community’s feedback into the design (unlike many other ACC consultation process) and that this was recognized and appreciated by the community. This can only compound the anger within the community that the design may be scrapped, just like the library/service centre that was consulted on ad-infinitum but without getting the answer that council wanted. </FOR REFINEMENT>
Whatever else I have missed
Waiheke Does It Better: Campaign to keep our waste resource managed on the island. "The tender for the management of our transfer station is currently open to bidders... and there is a real danger that the Auckland City Council - and in particular the City Development Committee - will vote for an Australian-owned company to manage our waste. If this happens, jobs will be lost and all our recycling will be transported - unsorted - off the island and added to the huge rubbish mountain accumulating in Auckland." If you want don't want this to happen, make your voice heard. Remember, all that’s needed for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing. Do something today: grab the postcards or simply go to www.WaihekeDoesItBetter.org.nz and send emails instead.
<QUESTION>Has an official information act request has been made to determine whether Waiheke was promised to Visy recycling as part of their contract (notwithstanding that perhaps no answer will be forthcoming due to commercial confidentiality)?</QUESTION>
<FOR REFINEMENT>Example of: Xtreme Waste in Raglan: http://www.zerowaste.co.nz/default,654.sm
I understand from someone who works there that Hamilton council wanted to close them down and truck their waste to a central collection area, but that they simply carried on and stopped returning the council’s calls. Ultimately it became too politically embarrassing for Hamilton to close down such a successful organisation with such a good reputation. Of course the opposite effect is also true – if a community organization can do it better than a multinational, that is also embarrassing. Maybe more so?</FOR REFINEMENT>