Matt Cowley Tauranga City Councillor

Tauranga residents have made it clear that they want their reserves, road sides, and gardens tidy. This means keeping the grass short and gardens free of weeds. Any barefooted enthusiast knows short grass during summer means prickles.

The cheapest way for council to manage vegetation and keep our public spaces tidy has been through spraying agrichemicals. But as the effects from toxic spray are evermore under the scientific spotlight, council is looking at new ways to manage vegetation that has minimal harm to people and the environment. It's about striking a balance between costs and avoiding irreversible harm.

Elected members have set a policy that requires staff and contractors to use non-chemical ways to manage vegetation as first preference if possible. The policy also aims to reduce the amount of agrichemicals we use.

Staff track the amount of glyphosate we apply across all of the land we own. The data shows we've been using 32 per cent less in 2014 than six years ago. This is pretty good when you consider the amount of new land that has been vested to council to maintain each year.

We're going to trial a range of non-toxic ways to manage vegetation over the summer months. We'll find out next year how effective and costly they have been. We are also continuing to support the Toxic Agrichemical Advisory Forum, which is made up of community representatives who keep tabs on what we're doing and gives us a chance to workshop ideas.

We have not banned staff from using all toxic sprays though. In fact, we have allowed staff to use a higher toxic spray (Banvine) in small doses to specifically control vines in certain conditions only. We have previously been using either a lot more of a low toxic spray, or spending higher costs to manually pull the vines by hand.

Following the decline of some Norfolk Pines in Mount Maunganui, we have found out that using a lot of low toxic spray can be more damaging than using targeted doses of more toxic sprays.

We're going through a transition to look at weaning ourselves off using toxic sprays in the future, particularly where there are risks to people and sensitive environments. It's a balance between being cost-effective while taking a precautionary approach to reducing harm.