12. Question No. 12—EnvironmentLEMAUGA LYDIA SOSENE (Labour) to the Associate Minister for the EnvironmentQuestion No. 12—Environment12. LEMAUGA LYDIA SOSENE (Labour) to the Associate Minister for the Environment: What announcement has she made regarding the Government's Waste Minimisation Fund?Hon RACHEL BROOKING (Associate Minister for the Environment): Recently in Hawke's Bay I was pleased to announce almost $1 million in Government funding from the Government's Waste Minimisation Fund for BioRich. BioRich turns organic waste that used to be sent to landfills into valuable compost. Unfortunately this facility was damaged by Cyclone Gabrielle. Before the facility was damaged it was able to deal with 100000 tons of organic waste including green waste and woody debris every year. This funding will help restore that capacity and support improvements that will futureproof the site. Helping communities get back on their feet after the devastating weather that hit the northern parts of the country this year is a priority for this Government and that includes restoring infrastructure to deal with waste.Lemauga Lydia Sosene: What other initiatives have also received funding as part of this announcement?Hon RACHEL BROOKING: Whilst in the Hawke's Bay I was also pleased to announce three other projects totalling just over $2 million to help tackle the wider problem with waste in New Zealand. The first is to expand Recycle South in Invercargill. The palletiser plant washes polyethylene and polypropylene plastics including agricultural bale wrap from the lower South Island. The second is for Agrecovery to trial its regulated product stewardship scheme for farm plastics. This scheme requires all those who use plastics to take responsibility for collecting and dealing with farm plastics. The third is for Again Again a technology platform that enables the loaning and tracking of reusable packaging. This will help expand the app to include a reusable container system for the craft brewing industry for tap room ports.Lemauga Lydia Sosene: What feedback has the Government received on its efforts to combat waste?Hon RACHEL BROOKING: We have been receiving a huge amount of positive feedback from throughout the community for this Government's efforts to combat waste. BioRich owner Mike Glazebrook said that the funding announced by the Government is a huge help towards recovery which would otherwise have taken until next year. He said it gave the company the confidence to get stuck in and get it up and running as soon as possible. Separately Waste Management Institute of New Zealand chair Wayne Plummer told a conference last month that the past five and a half years have been most productive for tackling waste issues which are finally getting traction.Lemauga Lydia Sosene: How does this announcement fit into the Government's wider waste strategy?Hon RACHEL BROOKING: The funding I was able to announce goes toward projects that support the Government's goals of reducing waste and reducing emissions as part of the recently released Waste Strategy. This strategy has three targets to achieve by 2030 being reducing the amount of material entering the waste management system by 10 percent per person reducing the amount of material that needs final disposal by 30 percent per person and reducing the biogenic methane emissions from waste by at least 30 percent.