Editorial: Landfills not sexy but are important

We're a wasteful lot in Rotorua, it seems, generating about 45 per cent more per household waste than other "similar districts".

It's smelly, dirty and not exactly a sexy subject.

Despite that rubbish seems to generate a lot of debate in Rotorua. And our story on page 2 today about the state of the district's landfill makes for interesting reading.

There's the revelation it's losing $2 million a year, a figure that is set to increase if something doesn't change. Ratepayers care about money and $2 million is a lot of money.

In the past four years the amount of waste entering the landfill has almost halved.

If that was due to people recycling more and producing less waste that would be a great result - environmentally speaking at least.

But figures bandied about following yesterday's Rotorua Lakes Council committee meeting indicate there is something else going on.

We're a wasteful lot in Rotorua, it seems, generating about 45 per cent more per household waste than other "similar districts".

Given we also recycle about 53 per cent less than in similar districts, the logical conclusion is we are chucking recyclable items into the rubbish.

Would kerbside recycling change those habits? Perhaps.

When I was a kid, a visit to the dump was a cause for great excitement. The circling squawking seagulls, the mountains of waste, even the smell, made it a fun excursion in the days where kids had to create our own fun. But if the figures are anything to go by, it's not such a regular occurrence for today's kids and their parents.

Part of that has been put down to increased costs - which some councillors reckon is forcing people to illegally dump their rubbish.

The inter-connected questions around the landfill, waste collection and recycling are not sexy but they are important, in both an economic and environmental sense.

It will be interesting to see whether private operators will be able to help the council answer those questions, and prevent millions more being lost.