Recycling turn out to be congratulated

Since the closure of the EnviroWaste recycling service at Pukekohe, Council has spent several weeks looking for alternative short term solutions for North Waikato residents.

Council has also reminded residents to make the most of the current monthly collections it provides and encouraged them to use these as an alternative.

The increased use of the monthly Pukekawa collection from these keen residents has impressed Council staff.

One of these regular drop-off services was in Pukekawa last Tuesday [NOTE: February 2].

Last Tuesday, nearly 5000kg of recycling was dropped off, a marked increase on what is normally dropped off and well in excess of that been experienced at the drop-off facility since the EnviroWaste closure.

The demand was so high the contractor had to call in another vehicle to assist and remained on site much longer than normal to ensure everyone had an opportunity to use the service.

Previous recycling collections since closure of the EnviroWaste service have not increased to any large degree and have been managed through current service provisions.

Last week’s collection was outstanding, with locals coming from all parts of Pukekawa to drop off their recycling. Council is thrilled the recycling message is resonating so well with North Waikato residents. 

Tim Harty, General Manager of Service Delivery said, “It’s great to see the increased conversation and public interest in recycling options for North Waikato has increased the volume of users to the monthly Pukekawa recycling collection.

In response, our contractors called in a second truck to help with extra recycling and stayed on site for more than two hours after the normal collection hours to ensure all residents had their recycling collected, which is fantastic service from them.” 

Given the increase, the contractor will ensure a second truck is at the future monthly collection, or on standby as required for the coming months.

Currently, Council is investigating the trial of an additional monthly recycling collection in Glen Murray to meet the demand, but remains acutely aware of the need to have permanent solutions in place moving forward.

Long term solutions could include retaining the monthly collection in Pukekawa (and Glen Murray if a trial is successful) or a permanent drop-off recycling facility in the North Waikato.

“Council plans to work through these investigations over the coming months with a long term solution announcement planned before June, when the monthly collections are currently due to cease, prior to the kerbside recycling which is starting in July for all residents currently in the yellow pre-paid bag area,” Mr Harty said.

A break down in total weight of recycled materials this month and last at the Pukekawa collection point:

Product recycled	Last month	This month
Glass	1270kg	2630kg
Plastic	270kg	495kg
Paper	Up to 500kg	Almost 900kg
Carboard	Up to 600kg	900kg

For more information please contact:

Teresa Hattan
Communications Advisor
Waikato District Council
07 824 8633 Extn: 5649
027 889 3084
teresa.hattan@waidc.govt.nz