Recycling to help

Ōtorohanga District Council is committed to ensuring the wellbeing of its community by striving to meet its current and future needs, including the environment.

As part of its vision to manage the natural and physical environment in a sustainable manner, Council has embraced a philosophy of reducing the amount of waste going to landfills, and is encouraging residents to recycle as much as possible.

Community Facilities Officer Jared le Fleming says recycling can be easy.

“We can all become recycling advocates. By making the right choices and adapting our lifestyles, we can all help make our community and New Zealand more sustainable and ultimately waste-free,” he says.

“One way is to reduce the waste we personally send to landfills. If we endeavour to adopt a zero-waste, recycling attitude, we can make a huge difference in our lifetime for the next generation.”

Council provides facilities for recyclable items and has recycling services available to rural areas of the district through the establishment of unattended rural recycling centres at some rural schools.

Currently there are facilities at Ngutunui, Arohena, Maihiihi and Korakonui schools.

“These are small recycling-only facilities for the benefit of the community and they rely on community support for their care and management,” says Jared.

These facilities accept the same range of materials as that taken by the urban kerbside service.

There are also two attended recycling centres in the district, one on Progress Drive in Otorohanga and one on Lake Road in Kawhia.

“Understanding what items can and can’t be recycled is also important,” says Jared.

“We accept aluminium and steel cans (washed), glass bottles and jars (washed), paper and cardboard, and type 1 and 2 plastics, which are typically soft drink or milk bottles.

“Items that can’t be recycled include plastic bags, food waste, garden waste, nappies and sanitary products, polystyrene takeaway containers and polystyrene meat trays.”

Residual waste collected with the kerbside service is transported out of the district, as Council does not have a consented landfill in its district.