帕克市长刚刚在中国进行了为期两周的访问。在访问甘肃与武汉之前，他还在北京出席了中国与新西兰自由贸易协议的签约仪式。协议的签订进一步加强了两国现有的经济与文化的纽带关系并促进了新的合作。
对于新西兰成为与中国签订自由贸易协议的第一个发展中国家我们感到万分荣幸。签约仪式是一个非常重要的历史时刻，并将使两国人民相互受益。此次访问并不涉及政治，而是以建立相互关系并加强我们的经济与文化纽带关系为目的的。
基督城拥有“花园之城”的美誉。在基督城除了班克斯半岛的大多数乡村地区以外，拥有超过3000公顷的公共绿地。基督城居民为他们拥有干净的绿色城市而感到自豪。另外，除了拥有大面积的公园以外，我们大部分家庭都拥有自己的庭院。
维持城市公园与绿地面积是城市议会主要议题之一，市长帕克与本人就是其中的被选代表。我们的议会是当地提供给居民服务的权威部门，服务内容包括道路、污水处理、供水、图书馆、游泳池以及娱乐设施。这些服务是他人所不能提供的。议会提供24小时服务，每星期七天。同时我们也能预见基督城现在以及未来的发展。
以中国的标准来看，我们的城市是微小的，我们与有着3500年丰富历史文化的武汉在许多地方都有着共同点。你们城市的科学及园艺与我们自己的能力及专业有很多相似点并且在某些方面可以互补。因此创造出更多新的契机。在武汉的各个组织与伙伴之间签订了22份协议。
基督城人口的增长与生活方式的改变给城市的基础设施与自然环境所带来的压力要比你们在中国所体验的压力要小得多。不断增长的人口、持续的城市发展、私家汽车的增加以及可持续发展问题（例如：能源消耗与废物生成）给环境的保护与改善带来很多挑战。
基督城已将可持续发展设定为目标。我现在在此告诉你们我们是如何朝着这一目标前进的。首先，基督城城市议会根据居民希望我们实现的结果来决定管理城市的组织机构。这些结果成为我们作为议会进行工作的动力。我们的居民告诉我们他们希望有一个可持续发展的城市，我们的作用就是将这一目标放在我们的策略与政策中来实现。
去年，我们成为在新西兰第一个签署并采取可持续能源战略的议会，通过设计行动计划引导我们这一地区向着可持续发展的未来方向前进。同时也伴随着包括我们的零废物战略以及生活流在内的其他策略。这些首要文件指导着我们从重大工程到教育举措上的工作。
我们拥有许多环境友好的实际经验。由于城市填埋场已超出负荷，因此我们联合其他地区议会在城市的北部驱车一小时的地方开发了一个新的填埋场。每天有30辆大卡车与拖车托运基督城居民630吨的垃圾至凯特谷填埋场，仅仅只需要驱车一小时到城市的北部。
目标是可以达成的。每天住户们放进黑色塑料袋里的将近有一半的垃圾为有机废物（厨房垃圾与庭院废物），它们是可以不用被送入填埋场而当作肥料使用的。另有20％可以循环利用。
新设施一年将花掉议会$24，200，000（约人民币90，000，000元），折合一台路边垃圾收集设施需要$174（约人民币860元）。在3月17日提出的2008/09年议会计划草案中，提议一部分资金从统税中获得，一部分资金从固定年度收费$82（约人民币250元）中获得。
尽管每户现在都有一个有机物垃圾箱，但议会将会继续在城市游说更多热衷于堆肥处理的人。这仍是对环境改善的最好办法。地方税纳税人可以选择不使用垃圾箱，但是他仍然需要为社区的其它设施缴税，例如图书馆。
我相信基督城居民将会非常欢迎这套旨在减少我们送往填料场垃圾数量的新系统。在大量环境与可持续发展具体行动组的工作鉴证下，我们显然是一群具有环境保护意识的居民。这一新系统将会是我们对干净绿色生活强烈向往的另一体现。
在减少城市废物的另一举措中，议会与我们本地的商业团体共同为可持续这一目标而努力。在计划中，鼓励商业组织减少废物产生量并重复利用他们不再需要的产品。由我们自己的人员在议会办公室来指导。所有的纸张与塑料都循环利用，同时他们的有机废物作为肥料被分离。我们的议员给商业组织提供减少废物量的最好方法。这也须依照他们各自的要求来执行。
以前的城市填埋场已被淹没，现在正在将它开发出来使它成为一个长期的公共设施。但是，我们现在已开发了一套系统来收集旧填埋场产生的沼气并将其输送到城市最大的娱乐中心。该沼气为中心提供动力，包括对五个水池进行加热。
我们的水池是通过由城市出水渠道收集来的油脂来进行加热的。不久，议会就会将此纳入到城市第一批可持续发展政策之中。该政策将会是影响议会所有活动的主要文件，在做决定时，其将会成为可持续发展考虑的关键因素。
在过去的10年里，基督城城市议会已减少了30％的能源使用。价值$3，000，000的节约举措使我们成为新西兰第一个在世界市场上推销我们碳信用额的城市。这笔钱将再次投入到我们的能源策略中从而使我们能节约更多的能源。
我们一直非常关注保持城市的清洁与绿化。其中一个正在进行的重要项目就是通过一根入海河口管道从城市的河口将城市已处理的废水转移到3千米远的海岸。这将会大大提高城市地区环境的生态价值。
Speech by Councillor Barry Corbett to Mayors’ Forum of Central China Expo and Opening Ceremony of OVC (Optics Valley China)
Thank you very much for your warm welcome and the opportunity to talk to you today. I was delighted when the Mayor, Bob Parker, asked me to represent him and our city of Christchurch, New Zealand, at this very important conference.
Mayor Parker has spent the last two weeks in China, initially attending the signing of the Free Trade Agreement between China and New Zealand in Beijing before travelling to Gansu and more recently Wuhan to strengthen existing economic and cultural ties and to build new relationships.
We feel extremely privileged that New Zealand is the first developed country to sign a free trade agreement with China. The signing was a historic occasion which will benefit both of our countries. However this visit is not about politics, it is about building relationships and strengthening our economic and cultural ties.
In Christchurch we are extremely proud that our city has pioneered sister city links with China. Feedback that we have received endorses that we are on the right track with our approach.
I bring to the residents and business community of Central China a warm welcome from the residents of Christchurch.
Christchurch deserves its reputation as “The Garden City” and there are over 3000 hectares of public parklands in Christchurch, excluding those in the more rural part of the Council’s area, Banks Peninsula. Christchurch residents are proud of their clean, green city. In addition to our large areas of public parks, most of our homes have their own gardens.
Maintaining the city’s parks and greenspaces is just one of the roles of the city Council of which Mayor Parker and I are elected representatives. Our Council is the local authority providing services including roading, sewerage disposal and treatment, water supply, libraries, swimming pools and recreation facilities. These services can not be operated by anyone else. The Council operates a 24-hour, seven-day a week service. We are also overseeing Christchurch’s development for present and future generations.
Christchurch and Wuhan have been building the foundations to establish a long-term strategic partnership since 1999. This was formalised in 2006 with the signing of a Friendship City Agreement.
While our city is tiny by Chinese standards, we have much in common with Wuhan, a culturally rich city with a history dating back 3500 years. Your city’s science and horticulture is both similar to, and in other respects, very complementary to our own capabilities and expertise. This makes fertile ground to find new opportunities. There have been 22 agreements signed between various organisations and partners in Wuhan.
On a much smaller scale than you are currently experiencing in China, the growth and changing lifestyles of Christchurch’s population is creating pressures on the city’s infrastructure and natural environment. A growing population, increasing urban development, the growth of the private motor car use and sustainability issues, such as energy and resource consumption and waste generation provide many challenges for the protection and enhancement of the environment.
Christchurch has set its goal on sustainability and I am here to tell you how we are achieving that goal. To start the process, the Christchurch City Council has determined from its residents what outcomes they want us to achieve as the organisation that governs their city. These outcomes drive everything that we do as a Council. Our residents have told us they want us to be a sustainable city and it is our role to put in place strategies and policies that make this happen.
Last year, we became the first Council in New Zealand to write and adopt a Sustainable Energy Strategy, setting an action plan which will lead our community towards a more sustainable future. It sits alongside other strategies such including our zero-waste strategy and also living streams. These are the over-riding documents that drive what we do from our major projects to educational initiatives.
We employ a range of environmentally friendly practices. The city landfill was running out of capacity so with other Councils in the region we have developed a new landfill about an hour’s drive north of the city. Every day 30 large truck and trailer units trundle out of Christchurch carrying their unsavoury load of 630 tonnes of the city’s rubbish to the Kate Valley landfill, just over an hour’s drive north of the city.
And every month Christchurch residents generate enough rubbish to fill a rugby field to a depth of four metres (that’s a metre higher than the goal post crossbar). These are just two of the compelling statistical drivers behind the Council’s introduction of a new household kerbside collection system for the city.
Christchurch needs to put the brakes on its growing waste mountains. Decisions made today will make the city a better place to live for present and future generations.
The introduction of a new cutting edge kerbside collection service starting next year is another step on the way for Christchurch becoming the most sustainable city in the country. It is a bold forward thinking approach to an issue of environmental importance.
The new system will reduce the amount of household waste going to landfill by a third.
The targets are achievable. About half the rubbish householders put in their black bag every day is organic waste (kitchen scraps and garden green waste) that could be composted instead of ending up at the landfill. Another 20 per cent could be recycled.
The new service will cost the Council $24.2 million (around $90 million RMB) a year which equates to $174 (around 860RMB) for every property currently receiving a kerbside collection service. In the draft annual plan for 2008/09 out for consultation on March 17 it is proposed to partly fund the new system through the general rate and partly through a fixed annual charge of $82 (around 250 RMB).
The new service is Council’s response to its residents who have said that they want to reduce what goes to the landfill. A third less rubbish would result in 2000 fewer return truck trips a year to the landfill. A beneficial spin-off of less rubbish is reduced carbon emissions, and less congestion and wear and tear on our roads.
Christchurch residents are already recycling pioneers with nine out of 10 participating in the present system. Their commitment is such that many of their green crates are full to overflowing every week.
The new service to be rolled out early next year will provide residents with three bins, of varying sizes, to collect organic waste, a greater range of recyclable materials, and general rubbish for landfill. The standard service provided is:
A 80 litre wheelie bin collected weekly for organics
A 240 litre wheelie bin collected fortnightly for recyclables. Under the new system, all clean plastic and glass containers, aluminium and steel cans, paper and cardboard can be placed in this bin.
A 140 litre wheelie bin collected fortnightly for residual waste
Although householders receive an organics bin, the Council will continue to encourage the city’s avid home composting enthusiasts. This is still the best option for the environment. Ratepayers can chose not to use the bin, but will still be charged for it, just as they are for other community services such as library services.
I believe Christchurch residents will embrace the new system which is aimed at reducing the amount of rubbish we send to the landfill. We are clearly an environmentally aware group of citizens, as evidenced by the large number of environmental and sustainability action groups at work. This new system will be yet another outlet for our passion for a cleaner, greener lifestyle.
In another initiative to reduce the city’s waste, the Council is working with our local business community on Target Sustainability. This is a project to encourage businesses to reduce the amount of waste they generate and to recycle more of the products they no longer require. It is the way that our own staff operated in the Council offices. All paper and plastics are recycled, while their organic waste is separated to be sent for composting. Our staff act as consultants to other businesses to help them devise the best way of reducing waste. This is tailored their individual requirements.
The former city landfill has been covered over and is being developed so that long term it is a community facility. However we have developed a system to harvest the methane gas being produced at the old landfill and to pipe it to the city’s largest recreation. This gas powers the centre, including heating its five pools.
Another of our pools is heated with grease and fat collected from city takeaway outlets. Shortly the Council will consider for adoption the City’s first Sustainability Policy. The policy is an overarching document which will influence all Council activities and make sustainability one of the key considerations when decisions are being made.
In the last 10 years the Christchurch City Council has reduced its energy use by 30 per cent. The savings made allowed us to be the first city in New Zealand to sell our carbon credits on the world market for $3 million. This money will be reinvested in our energy strategy so we can make even further savings.
As a Council we encourage our residents to use public transport and there is an increasing trend among our residents to cycle or walk to work. We have built a system of cycle lanes to make our commuter roads safer for cyclists.
Last month Christchurch residents embraced world “Earth Hour” and switched off their lights and a symbolic gesture against climate changes. Many of the events our Council runs are designed to enhance our Garden City brand.
We are mindful of keeping our environment clean and green and one of the major projects currently underway is to divert the disposal of our city’s treated waste water from the city’s estuary via an ocean outfall pipeline to 3km off shore. This will greatly enhance the environment of an area of high ecological value to the city.
The need to address issues of environmental importance has never been greater and our City can boast an impressive track record that is improving with every new initiative.
