Reusable and recyclable materials available to the public
Tasman District Council has further reviewed details of how recyclable and reusable materials will be made available to the general public at council’s resource recovery centres at Takaka and Collingwood.
At the Takaka site, from this coming Saturday 21 March, a limited amount of popular reusable materials will be available for the public to purchase. Staff will initially be diverting recovered steel and wood to a temporary holding area on the upper level near the kiosk.
This is intended as a short-term solution before construction of an extension to the existing reuse shop is complete, when there will be additional under-cover storage space available. It is also a departure from earlier plans to allow access to the lower area announced last month.
Plans for the Collingwood site are currently being finalised.
“We regret the confusion that our false start caused last month,” says David Stephenson, utilities asset engineer. “We originally believed that allowing people access to the lower area one day a week was a pragmatic solution which would allow locals to retrieve materials with the assistance of staff. However, the more we looked at this option the more we identified potential problems and safety risks to staff and the public. Risks we weren’t prepared to live with.”
Council staff concede that not all people will be happy with the decision to prevent people from helping themselves.
“What many people do not realise is that the site operator diverts quite large volumes of material into recycling, away from landfill, and we need to respect that,” says Mr Stephenson.
“The material on the lower level, while it may look unwanted, is a valuable resource that is already recycled, and the lower area is an unsafe place for people to be poking around,” continued Mr Stephenson.
“We’re very hopeful that by providing space on the upper level and by learning what materials are in demand we’ll be able to provide an equal or better opportunity for local recycling in the long term.”
Payment is to be weight-based to cover the scrap value of the materials.
In the meantime council is welcoming feedback from the public on the most appropriate materials to be made available and asking for patience and understanding while the system is developed.
David Stephenson can be contacted at TDC with suggestions and requests for materials, preferably by email: david.stephenson@tdc.govt.nz or by dropping suggestions at the Takaka TDC office.
