Recycling park given support to stay open

WAITAKI’S recycling park has been bailed out of ‘‘dire’’ financial straits.

The Waitaki District Council yesterday agreed to two oneoff grants totalling $85,000 and to increase the funding for the Waitaki Resource Recovery Park by 10%, or $22,000, a year after a request for financial assistance from the trust that runs the park.

Waitaki Resource Recovery Trust manager Dave Clare said the trust had been ‘‘running on the smell of an oily rag’’ after nearly a year of running an increasingly busy recovery park that was finding it difficult to move the material it collected, due to the fallout from China’s importation ban.

‘‘It has been hard,’’ Mr Clare said. ‘‘It’s been a bit dire for the last nine months.

‘‘Our returns on cardboard and paper . . . the last quarter we were actually paying to get rid of paper.

‘‘And on top of that we had a minimum wage increase. And on top of that we purchased another baler to cope with the increased volumes coming through since the [Oamaru] landfill closed.’’

Cardboard and paper sales were beginning to rebound, but the recovery park had hired 3.5 fulltime equivalent staff to cope with the increased volume of material coming through the park.

Cr Melanie Tavendale said funding the park was a good use of the council’s waste minimisation fund as the park had a ‘‘really strong role to play’’ in the community.

Without the funding, Mr Clare said, the park could be forced to ‘‘shut down’’.

The trust this year instituted a $1 per vehicle charge to drop off recycling. Commercial kerbside recycling operations were also charged to drop off recyclables.

The council agreed to a oneoff loan of $55,000 to cover losses this year, a oneoff grant of $30,000 to cover the cost of a second baler, and bumped up the annual grant $22,000 to $242,000 from January and $11,000 for this year.