Whanganui pensioner houses to trial recycling containers

Whanganui District Council pensioner housing complex residents Allan and Sandra make use of their new recycling container. Photo / Supplied

Recycling containers have been installed in three Whanganui District Council pensioner housing complexes in order to make it easier for residents to recycle.

With no kerbside recycling service in Whanganui, some residents are not able to get to the Whanganui Resource Recovery Centre.

The containers are part of a year-long trial that has been supported by a grant from the Glass Packaging Forum.

Whanganui District Council waste advisor Stuart Hylton said if the trial was successful it would be rolled out to nine other pensioner housing complexes.

"Council has 12 pensioner housing units housing around 250 residents. This trial chose three complexes which showed the greatest interest in using a service following a survey of all complexes," he said.

The council will monitor the success of the trial, including costs, to determine whether it should be rolled out to all pensioner housing complexes in the district.

The council originally applied for around $8000 from the forum however the forum was able to source containers through its network and funded the $750 transport cost.

Glass Packaging Forum scheme manager Dominic Salmon said the trail meant more glass will be diverted from landfills to be recycled.

"It supports our aim of an 82 per cent recovery rate for glass bottles and jars in New Zealand. We hope the trial is a success and is rolled out more widely."

Glass is recycled at the country's only glass container manufacturer O-I New Zealand.

"A great little statistic we'd love people to keep in mind when doing their recycling is that the energy saved by recycling a single bottle could light a 15-watt low-energy light bulb for 24 hours," Salmon said.