Recycling is about to become easier

From City Scene, published on 11 May, 2008

Simpler recycling: Mt Roskill resident Xavier Braganza is keen to use his new recycling bin once the service starts in July. ''It will be great to be able to combine all our recyclable materials in the one bin, and will give our streets a much neater appearance'' he says.

Preparations for the council’s new one-stop recycling system are well advanced. About 65,000 eligible Auckland city households have received their new 240-litre, blue-lidded recycling wheelie bins, with the rest being delivered to western suburbs this month and central city homes in June.

The new recycling service starts on 30 June, when the recycling bins will be emptied fortnightly, on the same weekday as your usual rubbish collection. Weekly collections of the red-lidded bins containing households’ non-recyclable rubbish will continue.

The large capacity blue-lidded bins will store all household recyclable materials. Paper and cardboard can be placed loosely into the bin with steel and aluminium cans, glass bottles and jars and plastic containers from the kitchen, bathroom and laundry marked with any of the recycling symbols 1-7.

The new bins come with an information pack that will be delivered to your letterbox. The pack includes a recycling brochure and a calendar of the new, fortnightly recycling collection dates. The bins also have stickers underneath their lids that detail which items can and cannot be recycled.

As well as being easier and safer, the new recycling service is expected to increase the amount of household material that is recycled by between 15 and 25 per cent. City Development Committee chairperson, Councillor Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga says almost one quarter of the 86,000 tonnes of material that went to landfill last year could have been recycled. ''The council’s new service will make a major contribution to our goal of reducing the amount of recyclable waste going to landfill,'' he says. “The new system, which includes a state-of-the art recycling facility in Onehunga, will set new standards in New Zealand for resource recovery and sustainable planning, by achieving high yields of recyclable materials.”

After June, the current blue recycling crates will not be emptied. Residents are invited to keep the crate to use as an indoor recycling bin. Any unwanted crates will be collected in mid-July. City Scene will notify residents of the collection dates via public notices closer to the time.

The council’s new recycling system:

simpler, safer and cleaner
less recyclables to landfill
fortnightly collections
state-of-the-art sorting technology
boosting resource recovery.

For more information, visit the website.

Avoid contamination – use the HazMobile

Do not place hazardous waste, broken appliances, inorganic waste or anything else that could contaminate your recyclable or regular rubbish in domestic bins. Instead, use the council-funded HazMobile service. For details visit http://www.hazmobile.govt.nz