The reopening of Whanganui Environment Base (WhEB) on Monday last week was a happy event for Sustainable Whanganui.
It was even happier because nothing had been dumped in the porch while the WhEB was closed.
Monday mornings before alert level 4 were often a pain in the neck for me, being the
first one on duty after the weekend. It would take me an hour or more to sort through the bags and boxes that had been left there since the previous Friday afternoon. Some of that stuff had to be biffed or taken elsewhere.
That porch, between 10am and 1pm on Monday, May 25, was the place to meet and greet visitors, all of whom were pleased to drop their unwanted stuff for the ReUse Academy (RUA) or to collect items from the Jar Bar.
Fellow WhEBster Peter Watson and I had a lot to catch up on, including discussing the future of the prison bag project, plastic free Whanganui and various other sustainable matters.
The porch is not the most hospitable place to be in on rainy days but we had rugged up, knowing that each visitor would have to be signed in for contact-tracing purposes.
It was a pleasure to welcome the nine visitors who chose that particular day to do their recycling, bring us empty jars and bottles, and check the treasures inside the RUA.
None of us at the WhEB want things to go back to the way they used to be.
May dumping be a thing of the past.
Meanwhile, Whanganui Resource Recovery Centre is now open 24 hours a day at the slots out the front. Cameras will keep operating to ensure genuine recyclables are posted.
"Your co-operation and attention to this detail would be appreciated," says manager Dale Cobb.
