The expectation was for citizens to drop off their own recyclables at their convenience.
Excluded were spirit, wine and beer bottles/cans that bore a 10c refundable fee at designated recyclers and thus a great charity fundraiser.
Compostable household garbage bags were purchased through local food/hardware retailers and the cost included a weekly pickup charge.
To encourage compliance, the city initiated spot garbage bag checks ensuring no recyclables with financial penalties for infringements.
The only bin exception was green/garden waste which was privately contracted for pickup if required.
One final relevant comment. In a recent international poll, Calgary was rated as one of the world's five cleanest cities included with Singapore.
Tony Fellingham
Tauranga
Shameful display
There are at least two types of leaders. The most obvious at this time is Donald Trump, president of the United States, who has taught the rest of the world a very valuable lesson.
When he became president, people believed what he said, and assumed he must be right and they followed like sheep.
They never stopped to check if he was telling the truth and look at how he has led them up to the Capitol and they have all done what he incited.
The day of reckoning is still to come for those destructive groups together with the anti-social misfits who joined them.
What a shameful display of criminal destructive behaviour.
In New Zealand the same can happen when leaders, be they in government, local or central, sporting clubs, appointments by government, or our learning institutions, it is fundamental that they are truthful in what they say and do, because as we now see in the USA how anarchy grows, as too many people follow like sheep without checking the facts, whether they are being told the truth or not.
We all have a responsibility to do our homework and make sure that what we get is needed, and preserve our democracy.
Margaret Murray-Benge
Bethlehem
Knee-jerk policy
I wonder if the $36 million announced by the Government to clean up and protect waterways isn't just another knee-jerk policy based on the embarrassing announcement that there are 50 Auckland beaches unswimmable.
Otherwise, why would it take until the second quarter to get the policy in place?
The green clean New Zealand concept becomes a greater myth daily. Let's drop the lies until the label is the truth.
A D Kirby
Pāpāmoa
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