27 July 2022
Media: NZME (Rotorua Daily Post and BOP Times)
Topic: Clean Up Week
Enquiry
I'm working on a story about Keep New Zealand Beautiful's Clean Up Week that people can now register for - I was wondering if it would be possible to get some comment from the waste team to the below couple of questions to include:
- How often do you have reports of littering and what are some of the common areas?
- Why is littering an issue the community should be more aware of?
- Why would you encourage businesses, kindergartens, individuals etc to register for an event like Clean Up Week?
Response
From Rotorua Lakes Council’s Waste Minimisation Officer Meghan Cooper:
How often do you have reports of littering and what are some of the common areas?
Littering is a complex issue. The number of littering incidents reported over a set period may vary significantly. Generally, littering is reported more frequently over summer months. Parks, reserves and roadsides are common littering areas, but strong wind may blow litter (e.g. plastics) to surrounding areas as well.
Why is littering an issue the community should be more aware of?
Littering is an issue because it is harmful to the environment, our personal and collective wellbeing and the reputation of our city. Litter in places where children play is harmful in terms of long-term reduction efforts because it works to normalise a littered environment, which is not what we want. Even one little piece can have an effect as people are more likely to litter in an area where there is already litter present.
There are things each and every one of us can do to help reduce the amount of litter we see around our city:
- Role model positive action and encourage your friends and family to do the same.
- If you are able to, take your rubbish home with you. This will help stop public bins from overflowing in popular areas and means any recyclable items can be more effectively emptied and cleaned before being placed in the bin.
- If bins are already overflowing, don't add to the pile. Take the rubbish home and dispose of it in your wheelie bins. Contact Council and let us know if a bin needs to be emptied outside of its regular schedule.
Why would you encourage businesses, kindergartens, individuals etc to register for an event like Clean Up Week?
Littering is a problem that is created by the community, often inadvertently, by not disposing of their rubbish properly. The only way littering challenges can be addressed is by creating awareness within the community of the detrimental effects of littering on our natural environment. Events like Clean Up Week are aimed at educating the community on littering, preparing them to take ownership of the problem, encouraging their friends/family to dispose of their waste properly, and setting examples through participation in litter clean-ups.
We are lucky to have many amazing volunteers in our city who participate in litter clean-ups at all times of the year, and events like Clean Up week provide great wide reaching opportunities to share experiences and raise awareness on littering. If you would like to organise a clean-up event in Rotorua, either during Clean Up week or any other time, get in touch with our waste services team at Rotorua Lakes Council. We appreciate these efforts and can help out.
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Media: Local Democracy Reporter
Topic: MOH directive to council to fluoridate two Rotorua water supplies
Enquiry
See here the Ministry of Health announcement.
Could I please have some comments in reaction to this announcement from the council and mayor?
And can I ask why Rotorua's water wasn't already fluoridated?
Response
From Acting DE Infrastructure and Environmental Solutions Regan Fraser:
Having received notification today we will consider the information provided and look at the necessary steps we now need to take to implement the directive. This will include drinking water treatment plant upgrades for the central and eastern supplies.
Fluoridation is a policy matter that has been considered a number of times by elected members in the past with voting by successive Councils going against introducing fluoride to our water supplies. Fluoridation was most recently considered in 2014.
By ‘successive Councils’ we mean elected members
For your knowledge re last time it was considered:
June 2014: Consultation before fluoride decision says council - Rotorua Lakes Council
July 2014: Council votes for referendum on fluoridation - Rotorua Lakes Council
August 2014: No community referendum on fluoridation for Rotorua - Rotorua Lakes Council
From Rotorua Mayor, Steve Chadwick
Fluoridation is always a controversial and often emotive topic and I have always believed decisions about fluoridating or not should sit with health authorities that are responsible for public health, rather than leaving it to local authorities.
In Rotorua successive Councils have been unable to reach a consensus and the voting has always gone against fluoridation. We last debated it in 2014 when voting ultimately went against holding a community referendum.
I acknowledge some in our community will be unhappy about this but as a former health professional and a former associate minister of health, I personally support fluoridation as a public health initiative and think it’s long overdue.
I’ll be interested to see what impact this has on the oral health of our community over time – it will take some years for us to see that.