High hopes for waste fund application

Recycling will move to a whole new level in Timaru, especially if a $917,000 funding application to the Waste Minimisation Fund is successful.

The council is seeking funding to establish a resource recovery park at the Redruth transfer station and re-establish the Crows Nest Recycling Centre on the same site.

The move, which would also allow the council to set up more recycling initiatives with other businesses, coincides with the council introducing charging by weight for trailerloads of rubbish being dumped.

Senior waste management officer Ruth Clarke said it was planned to increase the range of materials that could be recycled, and to make sure those materials were not going into the landfill.

Ultimately the plan was for those bringing rubbish to the site to pass through the recovery area, with all recyclable material being removed from a load before it was weighed.

Building a new Crows Nest operation at the Redruth site would see it open seven days a week rather than the present five, and greater efficiencies in the handling of goods. It would also save the $12,000 a year it costs to shift recycled goods from Redruth to the Crows Nest.

Tyres are among the items for which the council is teeing up a recycling option. The council is also working with a Christchurch firm which is looking at options for recycling soft plastics that cannot be recycled at present.

Mrs Clarke said if the application to the Ministry for the Environment's Waste Minimisation Fund was successful, it would provide four-fifths of the finance needed for the resource recovery park and associated projects. The council and its industry partners would provide the rest.

She was hopeful the council would receive the funding, as it was seen as a progressive council in the recycling work it was already doing.

She considered the recycling park was now required if the council was to further reduce the material going to the landfill.

Work on the first of the weighbridges at the transfer stations begins within the week at Geraldine. It is due to be completed by Easter, with the weighbridge at the Temuka transfer station being installed in April.

The final bridge, at Redruth, is scheduled to go in in July.

- © Fairfax NZ News