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Queenstown Lakes
climate action and sustainability update
The climate is changing. And so are we.
Kia ora and welcome to our latest newsletter.
In this update we take a look at the repair revolution, the upcoming Wao Summit, tree planting, and much more. Grab a cuppa, settle in, and get inspired 🥰
Happy reading! 🌱
Bicycle! Bicycle! ...I want to ride my bicycle! 🚴🏽
This month is biketober!
There are some great local events across our district to take part in and lots of handy tips for encouraging new riders or riding with kids. And, if you're cycling into central Queenstown, check out our FREE underground bike parking and charging stations available at our Church Street carpark.
Wao Summit
The Wao Summit is a six-day event aimed to showcase tangible ways we can all make a difference for the good of the planet. There’s films, kōrero (talks), tours and workshops catered to every level, so get involved and be inspired from 25 - 30 October 2022.
Kōrero at the Wao Summit last year.
Radios boost resilience for communities
With climate change we can expect more extreme weather events, so it's important our communities are ready to respond.
The good news is Community Response Groups in the Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes Districts recently received a boost to their emergency communications. Ten new radio sets have been purchased to be distributed to groups across the region - from Lake Hāwea to Glenorchy, and other communities in between.
The radios will provide resilience and connection for communities who may be cut off in a disaster if the usual communication networks fail. This project was funded by the district councils and Central Lakes Trust.
Arrowtown Community Response Group with their new radios.
Blood, sweat, and no waste
From plastic water bottles to plastic wrapped gels and even tape for tight hamstrings – sport lovers can produce a tonne of rubbish 🤦♂️
And to no one’s surprise, that’s just what we found out after completing a waste audit at Wānaka Recreation Centre (WRC) - we’re producing just shy of 6kg of rubbish per day.
The audit team from left: Lukas Schafer, Kath Buttar, Sophie Ward, and Allan Wainwright.
Fortunately sport and rec peeps are always looking to flex their muscles and optimise their performance 💪 So, at both Queenstown Events Centre and WRC they will be:
- Creating composts and providing more separated bins to encourage recycling.
- Finding new, sustainable food and beverage suppliers that can commit to our sustainability goals.
- Reducing reliance on paper towels in our restrooms (biggest rubbish offender).
- Raising awareness of our commitment to sustainability.
The Climate Reference Group
The Climate Reference Group met in August to discuss the national Emissions Reduction Plan, and how the group will support the implementation of our district’s Climate and Biodiversity Plan now that it’s been adopted. We wanted to share this lovely photo of some of the crew. Thanks team for your wonderful mahi as always! ❤️
From left: Alec Tang, Bridget Legnavsky, Alexa Forbes, Jim Salanger, Tony Pfeiffer and Eleanor Trueman.
You can also check out Council's September Climate and Biodiversity update to the Audit, Finance, & Risk Committee here (PDF).
1, 2, 3, 4... QLDC is counting carbon!
We're working to measure and reduce the emissions of our infrastructure and building projects. We’ve done this for some major projects over the last few years, such as Project Pure and Shotover Treatment Plant infrastructure upgrades.
We've also started a carbon accounting exercise on our Ten Year Plan (a huge undertaking!). And we're delivering carbon accounting training to staff across the organisation.
We'll keep you posted with our progress.
Photos and news in brief
Enviroschools
This popular environmental programme is delivered in every primary and high school across our district, funded by QLDC. These students from Queenstown Primary School have been learning how to keep the soil healthy and how to grow, cook (and eat!) their own vegetables.
And these students from Te Kura o Take Kārara visited Wastebusters as part of the school's focus on being kaitiaki and taking care of their place.
Plastic-Free July
We ran four popular bees wax wrap making sessions during July at the libraries 🐝
We also ran a Simple Swaps colouring in competition as part of the school holiday programme. Here's our Frankton Library winner, Amelia, aged 9.
Whitechapel Reserve 🌱
Check out this incredible transformation at Whitechapel Reserve from August 2015 to March 2022 👀
Photo by Benjamin Teele
What a difference 16,156 native plants can make! Planted during Whakatipu Reforestation Trust's community planting days since 2015. Plant survival rate is approximately 90%, despite the extremes between summer and winter. Rabbit-proof fencing is critical due to high rabbit populations and SkyCity Casino provided a grant to the Reforestation Trust for fencing in 2018. The Reserve is seven hectares and just over 1.5 hectares have been planted to date.
Here's a few snaps below from a more recent planting day at the reserve.
And speaking of trees... 🌲
QLDC recently adopted its Tree Policy 2022. Any tree removed in the district on public land must now be replaced with two trees 🌲🌲
The policy also provides guidance on types of trees Council will plant, maintenance, and how staff and contractors should work around trees. You can read the policy here.
Repair Revolution
Wastebusters is hosting a round of Repair Revolution events.
- Sat 29 Oct, St Margaret’s Presbyterian Church, Queenstown
- Sun 13 Nov, Arrowtown Community Centre, Queenstown
- Sat 19 Nov, Wānaka Community Workshop, Wānaka
The team, along with a dedicated group of volunteer fixers, will endeavour to renew, revive and repair your broken items, from toys to bikes, clothes and computers. And it's free!
If you enjoy repairing things you can volunteer as a fixer. General volunteers are also wanted to help run the events.
Waste Minimisation Community Fund update
Thirteen community initiatives to reduce waste will benefit from about $122,000 of funding from the latest round of QLDC's Waste Minimisation Community Fund.
Projects include a bank of reusable nappies to be used by families in the Glenorchy area, and a pilot scheme by Wastebusters to rebrand and sell surplus uniforms. A full list of recipients is available here, with another funding round set to be launched early in 2023.
Queenstown Preschool and Nursery, which received funding in the previous round, created a worm farm project to introduce children to the Dr Compost home-composting programme. Read more here (PDF).
And the Hilton Hotel, which also received funding, has a project to reduce waste to landfill by composting approximately 200kg of food waste per week and providing pathogen-free nutrient-rich organic fertiliser to the community for restoration projects. Read about the Hilton Hotel (PDF).
Bye-bye problematic plastics!
From the start of this month it became illegal to provide, sell or manufacture certain hard-to-recycle and single use plastic products in Aotearoa New Zealand. We made a strong submission to the Ministry for the Environment in support of this. A list of items being phased out can be found here.
Thank you for reading!
Let us know if there are topics you’d like to see covered in the next update.
Email letstalk@qldc.govt.nz with your feedback.
'Til next time.
From the climate, resilience, and waste minimisation teams at QLDC - Kirsty, Katherine, Bill, Sophie, and Kath.
