One of Wanganui's biggest waste disposal businesses is looking to get greener and extend its collections out to rural residents.
In Wanganui, Transpacific Waste Management runs the Liffiton St Transfer Station with eight staff, managing director Tom Nickels says. The staff have been picking up wheelie bins and domestic rubbish bags
for 10 years.
The newish services starting to take off are special wheelie bins for recycling and green waste.
The recycling bins are collected all over town on a Wednesday.
Customer numbers have grown to the point where another day is nearly needed.
The bins take everything that can be recycled at the Peat St centre and save residents the time and space needed for sorting at home, and the effort of making a car trip.
They also cost about half as much to collect as unsorted waste.
The recyclables are taken to New Plymouth for sorting by another company, Taranaki Recyclers, Mr Nickels says.
Green waste bins have been collected for about a year, either weekly or fortnightly.
The waste goes to Wanganui's Green Gold Compost, which saves it sitting for years in Rangitikei's Bonny Glen landfill.
The company now wants to start collecting larger front load bins of refuse every month from rural residents.
It also collects waste and recyclables from Wanganui factories and commercial customers.
The Australian Transpacific Industries Group bought Waste Management five years ago.
It then became Transpacific Waste Management.
It's listed on the Australian stock exchange and has 2000 staff in New Zealand and another 5000 in Australia.
It recycles and disposes of a huge range of substances in New Zealand.
"We see all waste as a resource and we are driven to recover, recycle and reuse our valuable resources in support of a more sustainable world," Mr Nickels says.
