Households face wheelie-bin loss

Two Timaru households are in danger of losing their wheelie bins if they continue to flout recycling guidelines.

However, less than half a year into the Timaru District Council's kerbside monitoring programme, senior waste management officer Ruth Clarke said people were responding positively to the new system and there seemed to be little sign of the "green fatigue" said to be plaguing many New Zealanders.

This puts Timaru at odds with the results of a Readers Digest survey released yesterday that found more than two thirds of 990 New Zealand respondents were sick of sorting their recycling.

Since a zero waste adviser started kerbside monitoring on July 1 this year, 351 properties have received a first warning letter from the council indicating a problem with their recycling.

"Only 23 have received a second letter," Mrs Clarke said. "What that means is when they get the first letter and it says they need to make some changes that they do it. Only two households have received letter three."

Timaru implemented its 3-2-1 Zero Waste recycling system three years ago, but only brought in kerbside monitoring in July.

The system was still in its infancy. Decisions were still being made about how to deal with repeat offenders, Mrs Clarke said.

Sorting waste into the right waste stream was important to keep the council's recycling system running efficiently.

About 6000 tonnes, or half the compost produced from green waste diverted from Timaru District households this year, could not make it to the market, mainly because of arsenic contamination caused by people incorrectly disposing of ash.

The two houses which had received a third letter about bin contamination had not had their bins removed but are likely to receive a visit from the council's kerbside inspector to see what could be done to help them get on track with their recycling.

"This whole system is very new. We have probably just got to that point [of deciding how to deal with repeat offenders]."

If non-compliance continued after that – and bins were "heavily contaminated" – the temporary removal of wheelie bins was an option. Bins would be returned on condition of compliance, she said.

While there would always be one or two uninterested in complying, Mrs Clarke said people in Timaru were generally cooperative, seemed to want to do the right thing by the recycling, and had initiated the system themselves.

"I think that [the fall in the number of secondary letters being sent out] shows the general response to our monitoring. People, when they have received the right information, are interested in changing and getting it right."

- © Fairfax NZ News