New bins for recycling in central Arrowtown and Wanaka

Dedicated new recycling bins have been installed in central Arrowtown and are set to be installed in central Wanaka.

“The bins have been funded by the Ministry for the Environment as part of their Public Places Recycling Programme which aims to promote recycling to visitors from within New Zealand and foreign tourists,” QLDC solid waste manager Stefan Borowy said.

Capital funding of $125,000 had been provided by the Ministry for 50 bins in the district (20 for Arrowtown and 30 for Wanaka).

“In addition the Ministry is subsidising the collection of recyclables from the bins for the first two years of operation. It’s a great offer,” Mr Borowy said.

The bins have also been funded in other key tourism areas around New Zealand, including Kaikoura, Christchurch, Wellington and Taupo.

“We are delighted to have received this funding. We have recycling bins in central Queenstown but the cost has proved prohibitive elsewhere, despite the fact that this is very much an initiative we wanted to take more widely than central Queenstown,” Mr Borowy said.

The bins made a statement, particularly to visitors to the district that sustainability is important to our community.

“More than that, I think the message is one of caring for our environment. In a location like ours, that is critical,” Mr Borowy said.

Consultation had been undertaken with representatives from both the Wanaka and Arrowtown business communities.

“We have had some feedback from Arrowtown that we may not have got the location of a couple of bins right and we are relocating those bins to a more suitable location but on the whole we have received very positive comments about the new service,” Mr Borowy said.

A launch of the bins, in conjunction with the Ministry would take place in the near future.