Recycling Reduction Brings Relief

A drop in the volume of recycling is good news for Tararua council which earlier on had been soul searching on how to reduce its expenditure.

Alarm bells rang last summer when the feel good factor of reducing waste versus the associated costs turned into a financial headache for the council.

Costs per tonne to the Palmerston North recycling centre amounted to $500, manager district assets Stephen Taylor revealed.

In March the monthly volume of recycling collected peaked at 73 tonnes – more than the equivalent of 8750 double-decker buses.

Cairns red bins increased from the original six to nine as communities district wide wanted a part of the initiative.

For a full year Tararua residents enthusiastically recycled 617 tonnes.

So last week’s report by the chief executive that May’s takings had dropped to 56 tonnes came as a relief to both councillors and staff.

The good news was enhanced further when Mr Twentyman announced that cost savings of $30,000 per year would be achieved through a new method of sorting the recycled material. Further initiatives are being looked at to achieve improved efficiencies.