Paper gets the nod for parking tickets

Nelson’s parking meters will be issuing paper tickets instead of plastic-coated ones in two months’ time.

The Nelson City Council successfully trailed biodegradable paper tickets over several weeks in two of its machines.

The council’s group manager infrastructure, Alec Louverdis, said it hoped to have all machines converted to paper tickets in six to eight weeks, as it had to wait for the delivery of the stock.

He said he expected the new tickets to take about six weeks to break down in the environment, but they could also be disposed of in paper recycling.

Louverdis said the change was in response to environmental concerns about the plastic tickets.

He had said in May that the parking meters in the CBD were ‘‘reaching the end of their serviceable life’’. On Thursday, he said their renewal and updating was a project included in the council’s Long Term Plan, and was separate from the new tickets.

‘‘This project will begin this financial year with a study into smarter options for parking meters in the CBD. We’ll know more about what sort of meters the current ones will be replaced with when this work is done.’’

Louverdis said the purpose of the ticket trial had been to see if the paper tickets would jam the existing machines, which was what an earlier trial showed. The council also wanted to find out if the paper tickets would still be readable after being left in the sun.

In 2015, the council proposed spending more than $1 million to replace all its parking meters with more modern, high-tech models between 2017 and 2019.

The new meters would allow motorists to pay for parking by credit card, tap’n’go and smartphone, with the option of extending their parking time remotely.

At the time, council spokesperson Paul Shattock said the existing meters were being replaced because the technology used was becoming obsolete and they were costing an increasing amount to maintain. He said buying and installing the new meters would cost less than keeping the existing ones.

Three years later, plastic parking tickets continue to litter the city, with Nelson Intermediate School pupils recently collecting 600 off the CBD’s streets in four weeks.

The plastic-coated tickets are recyclable as part of the city’s soft plastic recycling scheme, but Nelson Environment Centre kai rescue coordinator Sarah Langi said they rarely ended up there.