Soon you will be recycling

‘‘Residents clearly told council that they wanted somewhere to drop off to recycling as stats show that some are driving to Lower Hutt to drop off their recycling so it is definitely needed.’’

Upper Hutt residents will again have a ‘‘free’’ recycling service with the opening of a council drop-off transfer station on Tuesday, January 24.

At a cost of $55,000, the three-daysa-week Park St facility arrives after high public demand from residents in consultation on the city council’s 2016/17 Annual Plan. It comes four years after the long-established rates-funded collection of glass, plastics and paper was controversially axed. The abandonment of what many people regarded as a core council service meant those wanting to recycle were forced to take up an individual contract with a private company.

The three-days a week transfer station will give people the option to recycle for free but it is for an initial year only and will be reviewed for its quantity uptake and effectiveness. Locals will be able to recycle paper, cardboard, plastic, cans and glass bottles and jars with compartments built into a single, partitioned shipping container. ‘‘We are pleased to provide an additional means for the people of Upper Hutt to recycle,’’ mayor Wayne Guppy said. ‘‘ The facility has been funded by the community and we have a collective responsibility to make sure it is looked after.’’

Located at the council depot next to Maidstone Park, the recycling service will be open from 7:30am to 8pm on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays only and council contrac- tors Waste Management will service it.

City councillors Chris Carson and Ros Connelly, both elected for a first time in October last year, have reservations about the new station, both favouring a return to a ratepayer funded kerbside service. The recycling station had limitations and was out of the way, Carson said. ‘‘People will want to do it when they are on their way to something, like going to work,’’ he said.

Carson wondered if the station’s opening hours and days would be self-defeating.

Connelly said the station was a step in the right direction but it was not enough. ‘‘Residents clearly told council that they wanted somewhere to drop off recycling as stats show that some are driving to Lower Hutt to drop off their recycling so it is definitely needed.’’

For more information, including what can and can’t be recycled, go to www.upperhuttcity.com/recycling