City Development: Mitigation and Waste Minimization

The purpose of the report is to learn about how to reduce the solid waste in city. Information came from the speaker who presented at the Nelson City Council (NCC) and spoke about mitigation and waste minimisation. There are two main points of interest: recycling for domestic household and enviro-schools.

NCC is responsible for the solid waste management of Nelson City. Karen Lee, (Personal communication, August 28,2019) mentioned the NCC shared a waste management and minimisation plan with Tasman District Council. There were three goals: preventing the creation waste, enhancing the capacity of resource use and deducting the harmful waste. In contrast, the major responsibility for solid waste management is the Vientiane City Office for Management and Services (VCOMS). The collection, transport and disposal of solid waste generated in Vientiane is overseen by VCOMS. Normally, Ministry of Public Works and Transportation (MPWT) has been the main ministry for establishing the regulation on solid waste management because Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) was established in 2011 as the result of a spin off from MPWT (Global Green Growth Institute,2018).

There is a Nelson’s Kerbside Recycling Service to all residential rateable properties. Wheelie bin collection is for recycling such as plastics, cans, paper and cardboard, a blue crate is for empty glass and unbroken glass bottles. The wheelie bin has a sticker that the collection day is listed. Recycling bins need to be out at the kerbside by 7 am and is collected every two weeks. Rubbish collection is weekly to the landfill. In addition, the organic waste into compost can save money and reduce the amount of rubbish (Nelson City Council,2019). However, VCOMS or other private companies collects the waste in Vientiane, the recyclable materials are collected by private workers. Recycling is transacted from buyer to buyer until they reach a final destination point. A local NGO, named Environment Conservation and Community Development Association, has been working with waste pickers and supporting in a village of Vientiane and providing basic training on waste segregation, health care and hygiene (Global Green Growth Institute, 2018).

In New Zealand, school children are introduced to waste management through the enviro-schools programme. The approach is to learn and understand the problem from waste, environmental and education for sustainable future. The objective is to help people develop skills and knowledge and involves planning, designing and creating to reduce the waste generation. Similarly, Laos has implemented a solid waste programme in Vientiane Capital City. The main purpose is to educate the students from primary and secondary school and also teachers. This activity is supported by German Cooperation for International Cooperation (GIZ). Department of Environmental Quality Promotion (DEQM) is responsible for environmental education and cooperates with Mobile Conservation Unit from Faculty of Forestry Science to promote public awareness on the impact of waste.

In conclusion, the implementation of NCC is very clearly and not overlap with other city or district. But in Laos is quite complicated and some mandates are similarity between MPWT and MONRE. I get ae lot of experience and I could apply the waste minimisation that relevant with my current work.

Reference List:

1. Global Green Growth Institute. (2018). Solid Waste Management in Vientiane, Lao PDR. Situation assessment and opportunities from waste to resource. Retrieved from: https://gggi.org/site/assets/uploads/2018/09/Solid-Waste-Management-in-Vientiane-Lao-P.D.R_Publication-3.pdf
2. Karen Lee. (2019, Aug, 28). Mitigation and Waste Minimisation.
3. Loankham ARTSANAVONG, Director General of Environmental Quality Promotion Department. (2019, Aug,22). Report to Minister on implementation of Climate Change and Environmental Promotion Project, phase III (Oct,2017-Mar,2019).
4. Nelson City Council. (2019). Kerbside Recycling Service. Retrieved from: http://www.nelson.govt.nz/services/recycling-3/kerbside-recycling-service
5. Nelson City Council. (2019). Enviro-schools. Retrieved from: http://www.nelson.govt.nz/environment/sustainability/sustainability-in-schools/enviroschools/