OBRA member Ali Forrest presented to the WCC - City Strategy and Delivery Committee meeting on 7 May 2026. Here is her submission. 

Introduction 

Thank you councillors for the opportunity to speak on organics collection and processing. 

I am speaking on behalf of Ōwhiro Bay Residents Association (OBRA). Our community is affected by all waste issues because we have the Southern Landfill in our midst. However, what Ōwhiro Bay wants, aligns with what all Wellingtonians have said in the LTP (Long Term Plan) they want, and what is in the WMMP 2023 and the Zero Waste Strategy. 

Majority of Wellingtonians want it 

The paper being discussed by this committee is proposing removing from the LTP something that a significant majority of Wellingtonians support.  

The paper's point 100 uses the LTPs rather misleading statements in point 31 and 32 (you can see that at attachment 32) to claim tht the option of "status quo" ie no organics, was consulted on during the 2024-2034 LTP process and had a reasonably high level of support. But that's not the case; in fact the vast majority of both submissions and the survey show support for organics collection and processing of some kind, just not necessarily the method chosen. 

So deciding not to divert organics would not just be a matter of Councillors voting on the Section 80 of the LGA - inconsistency with Plan. It would be ignoring the wishes of your constituents. 

Cost of not doing it 

Organics is not a "nice to have" - not frivolous and not radical - it is a basic requirement of a modern city to minimise waste and cut emissions. We are not discussing a new swimming pool or playground. Waste management is a core service to the city and removal of organics is a key part of this, reducing emissions, reducing amount of rubbish collected and dumped, using a valuable resource. 

Not collecting and processing organics is not just a matter of saving money to go with business as usual - it will not be business as usual - time doesn't stand still. Things are changing: landfills are filling up, standards are rising, costs are changing' governments are changing, infrastructure is degrading, populations are rising, legislation on emissions with tighten. There have already been years of delay. 

There are knock-on effects in putting our heads in the sand. You kick tis down the road and the next council and set of rate payers will get lumbered with it. Short term thinking will lead to panicked reactions. What happens when the next government gets in and expects Wellington to have be working up to the emissions targets suddenly due tomorrow. 

Landfill 

If we walk back on the WMMP and Zero Waste Strategy and circular economy, we are in danger of regressing to the view that landfills are the answer to waste. Wellington City moved beyond that several years ago and produced the WMMP and our Zero Waste Strategy. To abandon that is to shame Wellington as a capital city. 

You need to look at the whole picture. The Southern Landfill is again being seen as the main solution to waste issues. But the Southern Landfill has a limited life. If you are not preventing waste, the capacity and the life of the SL gets less and less. Officers spent a lot of time and effort coming up with plans, schedules, estimates for SLEPO (the new landfill extension), based on the amount of waste to be generated under the WMMP, loss of sludge, diversion of green waste, recycling improvements, etc.

This work is now being thrown out the window and new cobbled together estimates give the Southern Landfill 14 rather than 20 years of capacity. Because:

1.  No organics diversion

2.  Spicers landfill is closing – soon to be followed by Silverstream. And council seems to accept that WCC needs to take the waste that Porirua City council has decided to send to us to solve their own waste problems.

Another related issue that needs to be taken into account is usability of the Southern Landfill : the Metlink decision (like Porirua, not consulting Wellington City at all) that there will be a Bus Depot in Landfill Road. The 300 daily bus movements will be added to all the extra landfill traffic from Spicers and possibly Silverstream. Brooklyn will become a huge traffic jam and Happy Valley and Ohiro Roads are always potholed. They can’t even cope with the current traffic. This is going to mean more road maintenance or upgrades for Wellington City ratepayers to pay on behalf of the region.

Ōwhiro Bay's disappointment.

It looks to us as though by carelessness and default, two things may happen that Ōwhiro Bay have been promised many times would not.

1. The first is Southern Landfill will become the regional landfill

2. The second is that after 14 years (no time at all) there will be no solution to waste and in the ensuing panic council will vote to landfill up Carey’s Gully.

There are numerous reasons both these events would be a bad mistake I don’t have time to list.

The thought that this could be happening is a slap in the face to Ōwhiro Bay as we have put many hours of effort into discussions with officers leading to developing a landfill solution that worked for the city. We are disappointed that earlier decisions can be thrown out by officials, with no attempt at engagement.

Summary

So, in summary: We do not support Option 1 - the LTP should keep on hold the budget allocated for organics . No action is an extremely bad option.

We don’t necessarily want the option chosen in the LTP

We support Option 4 – instruct officers to look for alternative solutions urgently and you’ve heard the suggestions of WFW, ZWA, Kaicycle and others showing that there are already good local solutions that can be built on.