Taupō District rubbish collectors tackle extra workload during summer

Driver Shaun Martelli (left) and runner Levi Naera collecting recycling in Richmond Heights, Taupō. Photo / TDC

Being a rubbish collector is a tough job at the best of times, but it's even tougher over the summer period in the Taupō District.

Sweltering temperatures, packed holiday homes and more than double the usual volume of recycling meant the district's rubbish and recycling drivers and runners had their work cut out for them.

All those Christmas gifts and socialising have a big impact.

Envirowaste Taupō branch manager Tony Wilson says when it comes to recycling over the Christmas/New Year peak, paper was up 150 per cent on normal volumes, glass up 113 per cent and plastics, tin and aluminium up 110 per cent. General waste has also increased, with volumes 20 per cent higher than normal.

The extra workload has come on top of summer temperatures soaring to more than 30C - warmer still if you're out picking up rubbish where the heat radiating from the road and the truck engines make everything even hotter.

So, taking breaks in the shade, cooling off where possible, staying hydrated and slathering on the sunscreen is key to keeping the workers safe in the hot sun.

Levi Naera is a runner on the recycling trucks. He enjoys his job, which keeps him physically fit and takes him all over the district. But he said he "struggled a bit" with the longer 6.30am to 8pm workdays and searing heat over the holiday period.

"We would have to stop on the side of the road and have a bit of a break, run through sprinklers, things like that. People are good to us, though, they will come out and give us drinks and that."

Being a rubbish driver or runner is much harder than people realise. The men - the team is currently all men - who pick up the rubbish bags lift a combined weight of more than 10 tonnes per day.

The drivers must look out for hazards like small children on bikes and cars coming out of driveways, stop, pick up and sort out recycling, get back on the truck, move forward and do it all over again. The recycling runners will lift 2500 recycling bins per day and step on and off the truck 1500 times.

Tony says there are simple things residents can do to make the rubbish collectors' jobs easier. A good place to start is not overfilling your recycling bins – otherwise, when the runner picks it up, all the recyclables slide out, and glass will smash on the road. Overfilling your bins also means the contents blow out on windy days.

Sorting your recycling into separate bins or boxes, with glass in one bin, paper in another and the tins, plastic and aluminium in a third helps save time at the kerb side. If you already have a green bin, consider picking up a black bin for your glass recycling to go in. They are available free at Taupō District Council service centres.

Rubbish truck driver Thomas Giesen has a request too – put your rubbish bag at the kerb, to save extra effort. A few more steps to get to a bag that's not at the kerb may not mean much to you but over an 11-hour workday, it all adds up to extra kilometres on the drivers' feet.

Fellow driver Shaun Martelli drives a recycling truck and agrees with Tony and Levi that the best thing people can do to help the collectors is to sort their recycling, especially separating out the glass.

"Most of the time we'll turn up and there are five bins, but it's five bins of everything. A lot of people put cans with glass and you've got plastic with cardboard. Put the cardboard by itself, the cans and plastic together and the glass in a separate container."