$50,000 boost for popular recycling station

Thursday, 29 March 2018

Recycling waste was flooding on to the street shortly after Upper Hutt's recycling station opened. Material piled up on the street periodically thought out the 12-month trial as users often found the station closed or the bins filled to capacity.

A popular but under pressure recycling station has been given a $50,000 shot in the arm to expand its capacity and increase the number of drop-off days.

Upper Hutt's recycling station, which is open three days a week, will have its hours at least doubled from July following a funding boost allocated under the Upper Hutt City Council's Long Term Plan.

The recycling drop-off station in Upper Hutt has been open for three days a week since it was opened in January, 2017.

Since beginning a 12-month trial period just over a year ago, the station has been pushed beyond bursting point on several occasions. Users caught out by the limited drop-off days also began dumping material at the site when it was closed.

Overflow and dumping was particularly bad during the Christmas-New Year period when people wanted to dispose of their recycling before heading off on holiday.

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Council operations director Geoff Swainson said the response to the station had exceeded the council's expectations and the $50,000 boost was a direct response to demand.

'Demand exceeded capacity. It has done that periodically [since opening] and that's what's driven the decision to increase the capacity.'

The station was criticised less than a week after it opened for being too small to cater for users' needs when the container began overflowing.

Though the council's Long Term Plan consultation document stated the station would be open six days a week from July, Swainson said they were aiming to have it open every day.

A second receptacle - a converted shipping container identical to the existing one - would be added. The layout of the station would also need to be changed and the overall footprint of the station would increase.

Swainson said material was collected every second day and there was no plan to change this, though the council was prepared to re-examine collection frequency depending on demand.

'We're going to have to keep an eye on that.'

Waste Management is contracted to collect the recycling material.

The service, which costs about $5000 a month to run, is a return to a council-funded recycling solution after Upper Hutt's kerbside collections of paper, glass and plastic ceased a few years ago.