Good riddance to old rubbish. Carterton transfer station loaded its first truck to be delivered to the Bonny Glen landfill yesterday morning.
Jill Greathead Carterton councillor and Wairarapa Waste Management committee member said in the future the transfer station would extend to include a resource recovery station.
"We do have to get
rid of mountains of rubbish but at the moment Carterton isn't big enough to bring in a commercial company to do the recycling.
" People here have enough space to recycle everything themselves unlike in the cities where they don't," she said.
Waste Management chairman and Carterton councillor Mike Blundell said there is a line of sheds at the transfer station to recycle rubbish but when that happens is the hard question.
"I would say 25 per cent of the rubbish in the pit here could be recycled. I hope that at least 50 per cent of the recyclable rubbish gets filtered before it gets here," he said.
Carterton transfer station has an 18-year contract with Bonny Glen, near Marton, and the transport contract to the landfill once a week is with Renalls, Mr Blundell said.
"Once recycling becomes part of the cycle the trips will be cut down to once a month," Mrs Greathead said.
"It's all about changing people's behaviour about recycling."
When a lounge sofa was dumped into the truck Mr Blundell said, "95 per cent of that sofa is recyclable, so why is it in there?"
Delays in the transfer station were a result of logistical problems, Mr Blundell said.
"The original plan was to build a 2.5metre pit for the truck to be loaded in but once the rain came it started to flood so that's why we came up with an alternative," he said.
The idea of building a ramp for a digger to dump rubbish from above the cartage truck was the alternative, Mrs Greathead said.
"It wasn't the first option but it's definitely the best."
Mrs Greathead said the idea for the public is that they recycle first and then bring what's left of their rubbish to be weighed at the transfer station.
"The residue, which is what we call the rubbish left after recycling is weighed and that is what they have to pay for."
