Your Questions Answered

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Can Mangawhai support zero waste?
Overflowing litter bins in public places annoy most of us. That some of them are stuffed with household or commercial waste by people acting irresponsibly annoys us even more.

In this day and age, where we encourage zero waste and personal responsibility, one wonders why we even have public litter bins. Certainly, if the Council puts a litter bin in place, it will be filled. But some experiences suggest that the opposite also occurs. If they are taken away, people will take care of their own litter – taking it home, recycling it, and minimising what ends up in a landfill. I know some of you will cringe at the thought, for there are some holiday-makers who will not act responsibly.

When councils introduced the concept of user pays for household litter through a bag charge some years ago, many people claimed this would lead to a big increase in illegal dumping. This did not eventuate, and now the user-pays concept is well accepted.

There are 19 ‘permanent’ litter bins in Mangawhai – seven at the Wood Street shops, five at the Heads, four in the Mangawhai Community Park, two at the Village, and one by the Fagan Place playground. In the summer these are emptied five times per week, and in the quieter months twice a week.

Is it time to ask the question as to whether litter bins should be provided in public places in Mangawhai? Should we remove more of them? Or should we remove all of them? 

Zero waste is the discipline that we are being asked to live by. We are meant to consider this when we purchase a packaged product. We are increasingly dropping plastic bags as our choice for carrying our goods out of the supermarket. We are recycling, and reusing wherever we can. 

We are all minimising our waste that goes to landfill, driven by our desire to care for the environment.  Whangarei has removed some of its public litter bins at beach settlements. In 2013 the ratepayers association in Ruakaka asked for them to be removed. Other towns have reduced litter bin numbers. Should we do the same? I would be interested in your feedback. Contact me at jrobertson@kaipara.govt.nz.

Public toilets
Following a call for more public toilets in Mangawhai to cater for visitors, two new toilets have been put in place – one in Mangawhai Community Park, and one near the intersection of North Avenue and Alamar Crescent. The location of the latter was the subject of some debate and the receipt of a petition. We have located it in the place which had the most support.

Growth and town planning
With growth in Mangawhai showing no signs of slowing down, the need for town planning to support this growth is becoming evident. While there has been some town planning work undertaken in earlier years, there is an increasing need to test its adequacy. Without sound planning, roads and footpaths will not be properly joined nor will they be of the right size and development will be haphazard. The Commissioners are beginning to review these matters.

A comprehensive master planning exercise is likely to be needed, an exercise that will take several years to complete. If we embark on such an exercise, the process would be led by the Council and informed by professionals. Community engagement throughout the process would be important. A community advisory panel would assist.