Where can you take your glass recycling in Tauranga?

Henry Fa'afili was looking into gaining a permit to collect glass recycling for people who could not get to a transfer station. Photo/ File

From today Western Bay residents will need to take their glass recycling to one of eight recycling stations in the region.

Waste Management would no longer collect glass in kerbside collections in Tauranga and the Western Bay of Plenty.

David Howie, Waste Management's general manager for the lower North Island, said the reason for the change was because glass recycling posed unacceptable safety risks to staff, was commercially unsustainable and "was often counter-productive in diverting waste from landfill".

There were two transfer stations in Greerton and Mount Maunganui and through an initiative called Bins for Better Communities, there were a further six locations people could deposit their glass waste.

Schools and community groups involved in the Bins for Better Communities programme were paid for recyclable glass collected from purpose-built bins on their premises.

Howie said Waste Management targeted numerous community groups across the region with the aim of providing sufficient stations in a range of locations for the community to use, and more locations were likely to be added.

"Our goals are to improve the recycling rates for the region and remove a safety hazard for our team members.

"Both of these issues are primarily caused by broken shards of glass that are collected in mixed recycling bins," he said.

Otumoetai man Henry Fa'afili was taking glass collection into his own hands and was offering help to those unable to get to a transfer station.

Fa'afili posted on a local community Facebook page asking people if they would be interested in paying a small fee for their glass recycling to be collected and taken to a recycling station.

The feedback had been "fantastic and really positive", Fa'afili said.

The idea came to Fa'afili when he thought of his elderly neighbour who would not be able to dispose of her glass recycling herself.

"There will be a lot of people out there; elderly people, mothers with kids, business people, who won't be able or won't have the time to," he said.

Fa'afali was looking into the logistics of getting the idea up and running.

Age Concern Tauranga general manager Tanya Smith said it could be a problem for elderly people if they did not have a vehicle to get to the recycling station.

However, she said elderly people would dispose of "far less" glass than an average household of four to five people.

"Age Concern Tauranga suggests having conversations with family, friends and neighbours about possible carpooling or taking their glassware to the recycling stations for them.

"On a positive note, this is an opportunity to make connections within their community."