Kaipara gets kerbside recycling

Kaipara will take a step towards being cleaner, greener and more environmentally responsible with the introduction of kerbside recycling next month.
From September 8 an official fortnightly recycling bag collection will begin in the district.
While residents have long called for recycling, the Kaipara District Council had baulked at the cost - but council spokesperson Claire Lichtwark McInnes said a proposal from Kaipara Refuse for a clear "user pays" system, backed by ratepayers' willingness to pay for recycling, has made the service possible.
Recycling will be picked up between Ruawai and Mangawhai every second Monday from September 8, and in Dargaville township every second Thursday from September 11.
In Dargaville and Mangawhai contractors will collect in all urban streets. At the towns in between, bags are to be left at designated drop-off points. Collectors will accept clean glass bottles and jars, paper and cardboard, rinsed cans and domestic plastic bottles. Windows and reinforced glass will not be accepted.
The items will be sorted at the Kaurilands Skill Centre at Tokatoka, then transported to recycling centres throughout the North Island.
Only official blue recycling bags will be accepted. The $1 bags will be available from the same outlets as the official blue refuse bags.
Kaipara Refuse has been the official collectors for the western Kaipara since 1991 and a year ago extended collection to the eastern area. The company employs 15 Kaurilands clients, all of whom have varying degrees of intellectual disability.
Operations manager Matthew Hayhurst said the new contract had helped increase long-term employment opportunities for the clients, and two new buildings had been added for sorting recycling.
Kaipara Mayor Neil Tiller welcomed the kerbside collection and urged residents to make sure it was a success. "It's something a lot of residents have been wanting. I'm delighted we now have this opportunity to protect the environment, conserve resources and reduce the amounts trashed in landfills," he said.
To promote the new service, schools are being encouraged to design recycling posters to place in shop windows, with a $1000 prize offered to the class producing the best poster.
Mr Tiller will launch the new collection at the Mangawhai Farmers Market on August 30.
Kaipara is the last local authority in Northland to introduce kerbside recycling.
Free recycling collections started in Whangarei in February 2005, and a 12-month kerbside recycling trial in the Far North began in Kerikeri, Waipapa and Waimate North in July. Until then recycling had been dropped off outside the Kerikeri Memorial Hall.
Far North District Council spokesman Rick McCall said the amount collected had been light in the first two weeks, but had stepped up as people grew used to the new system.