Recycling sparks frustrations

A Kaiko¯ ura woman who’s fed up with the town’s rubbish and recycling system has told the council that ratepayers deserve better.

Superannuitant Cheryl Hodson stood outside New World and gathered nearly 300 signatures in just a few hours last week for her petition demanding better service.

‘‘I decided to do something after we got our latest rates bill. It’s put my blood pressure right up.

‘‘We pay nearly $4000 a year and [the] charge for rubbish is $132 plus GST. Where is all the money going?

‘‘We have to buy rubbish bags at $4.50 a pop, and pay another $4.50 to dump it ourselves – $9.50 if it’s heavy.

‘‘People now had to buy more bags because less could be recycled, she said. ‘‘There’s so little we can recycle now because they can’t sell it, so we end up paying again – it’s not affordable, especially when you’re a superannuitant.’’

The council had removed all the public rubbish and recycling bins around town during the lockdown and still had not replaced them last week, Hodson said.

‘‘Now we’ve got people dumping stuff in the riverbed and throwing bottles out of car windows. We saw a lot of this last week when we drove to Blenheim. There are still visitors around and nowhere for them to put their rubbish.’’

Council company Innovative Waste Kaiko¯ ura (IWK) had run a better service during the lockdown, when it ran a weekly bag pickup for all rubbish, including items that would normally go to recycling, Hodson said.

‘‘That is the way it used to be and everyone loved it. We should have that back as the new normal. If the council can’t afford to do it once a week, it could surely manage once a fortnight. If it can’t do that their whole system needs rethinking.’’