? Animal controller sits beside gorillas of the mist
Hutt City Council sustainability officer Simon Roff warns that bonuses are on the line is saving targets are not met
The Hutt City Council sustainable strategy was approved one year ago and work bonuses are on the block if departments don?t perform. Hutt City Council environmental sustainability officer Simon Roff says the council is cutting it close on meeting energy savings, currently three percent under their savings target. ?It?s for all the council staff and if we don?t meet the target we lose our bonuses. ?It takes in all departments, pools, the libraries, the Dowse, and even the water company Capacity,? says Mr Roff. Funding for the strategy became available in the January budget. Mr Roff?s work focuses on tracking sustainable performance and working with businesses. ?We have been able to sponsor five businesses in our area this year and have worked to bring their standards up to a bronze audit level,? he says. Funding for auditing five businesses next year is in the air as ?direct government funding has been cut in this area?. WelTec, Baseline, Pacific Radiology, Dom Post, and Bramco were audited this year. With much of the strategy?s funding coming from external sources the environmental team is having difficulty assuring programmes will continue. ?We have said we will do this and that, and now we are in the process of ticking them off. ?The council has done pretty well, we are about three fifths done on meeting international [sustainable] accreditation.? Under the strategy?s energy indicators the council wants more free resource consents approved for solar hot-water heating, and this year 13 consents have been processed. Building a small scale electricity supply is left wanting, with only a couple of windmills installed at Seaview. Funding for biodiversity is also ?lacking? and Capacity has not yet been approached over the strategy?s water aspects. Fitting a proportion of council housing with floor and ceiling insulation has proved successful with 20 of the councils 150 flats catered for. Council workers? solo-car use has dropped from 58 percent to 47 percent. Reduced green waste going into the Silverstream landfill and increased recycling are two main factors in the waste strategy. ?The question of what to do with all the green waste going to the landfill comes up time and time again. ?We are waiting for the council to decide on what they want to do with the [increased] landfill levies,? says Mr Roff.
