MP's mini recycling bin rebellion

KENT BLECHYNDEN/The Dominion Post

BOXED IN: ACT leader Rodney Hide says the edict on waste disposal shows the nanny state has gone "barking mad".

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A drive to turn Parliament into a clean, green oasis is causing such a stink that it threatens to punch a new hole in the ozone layer directly above the Beehive.

Workers and MPs have been stripped of their under-desk rubbish bins. Instead, they have been given paper recycling bins and a desk-top recycling "cube" for all other waste.

It is not just the size of the cube that has some staff fuming - it is not much bigger than a disposable cup - but the edict that they must sort out all waste before depositing it in new kitchenette "recycling stations".

Operation "Walking the Talk" apparently went smoothly enough in the Beehive - but the scheme's expansion into Opposition offices in Bowen House has pushed temperatures sky-high.

ACT office staff are in full revolt after being told by parliamentary bosses that they must take part because it is Government policy.

ACT leader Rodney Hide said it was an example of the "nanny state gone barking mad".

In an e-mail over-riding their protests, ACT staff were told to prepare for an hour-long "changeover", an operation that was conducted with military precision on Monday.

In a show of defiance, some ACT staff have turned their recycling cubes into pen holders and are ignoring the instruction to sort their waste.

Parliamentary Service managers were in a meeting yesterday and could not be contacted for comment.

But in a memo, staff were told the cubes were a "sign" that MPs were supporting a programme being promoted throughout New Zealand.

- © Fairfax NZ News