Recycling straight to the tip
Council back on job collecting six weeks of waste . . .
A mountain of recycling amassed by Wellingtonians through lockdown is on a one-way trip to the city’s fastfilling landfill, which is inching towards Zealandia.
Wellington City Council was back collecting recycling from yesterday but the council has confirmed that, for the first two days at least, most recycling will be dumped directly at the tip.
Only glass will be recycled. From tomorrow, plastics, papers and cans will go to the recycling plant in Seaview, Lower Hutt, but if that gets inundated it will be dumped. The council said loads were ‘‘medium to heavy’’ yesterday.
Councillor Laurie Foon said the Southern Landfill was scheduled to fill by mid-2023 at Wellington’s current rate. She implored people to stagger putting recycling out – and to make sure it was not contaminated – to reduce what ended up in the landfill.
If Wellingtonians did not urgently reduce their amount of waste, the landfill would need to be extended up the valley in just three years.
That would take it to within 400m of Zealandia’s boundaries, meaning more rubbish blowing into the sanctuary and possible predator problems.
The only solution was a dramatic drop in the 600kg of waste each Wellingtonian produced each year.
Foon had tried reducing waste for her family of four. In four weeks of the lockdown, her family amassed just 2.5kg of waste – not counting recycling.
The average rate in four weeks was 50kg per person, or 200kg for a family of four.
Nearing the end of week seven, Foon’s waste had grown to 4.4kg.
The council has asked people with a lot of stockpiled recycling to put it out in stages so it can manage volumes.
Mayor Andy Foster said glass was able to be sent for recycling to Auckland, without physical contact by staff.
‘‘The priority [at alert level 4 and 3] was the health and safety of our staff, contractors and manual hand sorters at the recycling plant,’’ he said.
Hutt City
Cardboard, plastic, aluminium and tin cans, plastics 1 and 2, and glass will be able to be recycled under lockdown level 2.
Recycling will be collected on the same day as usual but only one crate per household in Lower Hutt would be picked up.
Community recycling stations would remain closed at level 2 due to limiting demand and stations would not be monitored, which meant Hutt City Council could not control people dumping rubbish that could cause contamination.
Hutt City Council chief executive Jo Miller said ‘‘prior to the lockdown there were also major contamination issues with routine illegal dumping at these stations and rubbish being left there which had to be taken to landfill most of the time’’.
A decision would be made later this month on whether community recycling stations could be reopened. However, the Earthlink recycling facility at the Silverstream landfill will open on Monday.
Porirua
On social media, Porirua City Council said mixed recycling would be able to be sorted and recycled in level 2. Spicer Landfill would also open tomorrow.
Ka¯ piti Coast
Under level 2, Ka¯piti Coast residents’ recyclable material will continue to go to landfill until the region’s sorting facility reopens.
The O¯ taki and Otaihanga transfer stations would be open to the public for rubbish drop off but there would be restrictions.
Cash would not be accepted and there would be controlled distancing with limited access to the ‘‘pit’’ and recycling area.
. . . but one Wellington family’s lockdown rubbish came to just 4.4 kilograms
Wairarapa
Masterton District Council said under level 2, kerbside recycling would continue in urban areas. Rubbish collection would also continue as normal. Transfer stations in Wairarapa have been open since April 28 to the public for general waste, recycling and green waste.
Under level 2, recycling stations in Greytown and Featherston would also reopen.
Dalefield transfer station has been open since level 3.