Kerbside glass recycling to stop for now
All kerbside glass recycling collections will stop from Monday, as the city prioritises rubbish and other recycling services during the Omicron outbreak.
Chief infrastructure officer Sarah Sinclair said Covid-19 isolation requirements, on top of a city-wide shortage of specialist truck drivers, mean we’re having to prioritise waste services.
“We’ve made the tough call to temporarily stop kerbside glass recycling collections so that our teams can prioritise rubbish and wheelie bin recycling over the coming weeks. We have chosen glass collections to stop as residents can safely and hygienically store glass where that isn’t possible for other packaging.”
She said residents should wash all glass under hot water and store at home for when the service resumes. Drop-off stations at Ferguson St, Ashhurst and Awapuni will remain open also — “but we’re asking people to please not overwhelm these sites as we don’t want to have crowding at these locations”.
She’s asking people not to put glass into their wheelie bins.
“Glass cannot go in your wheelie bin. If we have wheelie bins with glass in them, it smashes and causes major issues for our machines.
“If we see glass coming in wheelie bins, we may have to make a tough call to send all recycling from the truck to landfill. That would mean around 500 homes worth of recycling would be sent to landfill each time this occurs, so please ensure your glass is stored or dropped to our recycling centres instead.
“We’re hoping this service won’t be out of action too long, but we don’t know how long Covid-19 will be affecting our community and our workforce.”
Ms Sinclair says rubbish and recycling trucks need to be driven by people with a class 2 licence and this is an extremely sought after skill due to the construction boom.
“This has been a really tough decision to make. We know how much our city cares about our environment, but the health and wellbeing of our staff, and the need to prioritise rubbish and other recycling from a health perspective, must be our priority.”