Kerbside recycling back on agenda

Matthew Martin | 17th March 2010

Rotorua residents are to be asked whether they want to go ahead with kerbside recycling and have been given six options to choose from - but they all come at a cost.

At a meeting of the Rotorua District Council's Works Committee yesterday councillors voted unanimously to send a draft Waste Management and Minimisation Plan out for public consultation.

The plan includes six recycling options, including four kerbside recycling options.

Council works manager Peter Dine told the committee yesterday the council had a budget of $800,000 per year for waste minimisation and would soon ask ratepayers how they would like the money spent. He said each option came with an associated cost.

The first option is to stick with the status quo - the in-town recycling centre.

Option two is to increase the size of the in-town recycling centre and add a satellite station in Ngongotaha at a cost of between $800,000 and $1 million.

Option three is kerbside bag collection where residents would be required to bag their own recycling ready for collection. This would cost about $4.5 million to set up and $1 million per year to run.

Option four is kerbside collection where residents are supplied with an open crate to store their recycling.

Option five is a wheelie bin option where all recycling is put in a bin and then sorted by hand after collection.

Option six is also involves a kerbside wheelie bin but with separate glass collection. It would cost between $5.5 million and $6.7 million to set up and another $1.2 million per year to operate.

Council's Waste Management sub-committee chairwoman, Councillor Julie Calnan, said she preferred option six, which would cost ratepayers less than $2 a week in rates.

"But I would still have preferred some specific quotes for Rotorua rather than some ball-park figures.

"If people can throw all of their recyclables into the one bin, the likelihood they would drive up Mountain Rd and dump it there would be a lot smaller," she said.

The draft Waste Management and Minimisation Plan will be sent out for public consultation, along with the council's draft Annual Plan for 2010/2011, at the end of this month. Both should be ready for final approval by mid-June.