Coat hangers and takeaway cups found in Porirua’s recycling
An audit of Porirua’s recycling has confirmed contamination is occurring regularly.
This month, recycling ambassadors have been out around the city on recycling days in their electric vehicle. During the first two weeks of inspections, four collection days exceeded the 14 per cent contamination threshold, meaning that recycling load must go to the landfill. The highest day of contamination was 33 per cent.
So far a total of 3773 bins have been inspected and 13 per cent of those were contaminated.
The recycling ambassadors will continue to check recycling as the start of Porirua’s 3-Strikes Process nears on 28 February – once this begins, if we find non-recyclable or contaminated items in your bin, you’ll get a warning sticker. If you receive two warning stickers and a red card, you could lose your bin.
The main problem reported by the ambassadors is general household rubbish all mixed in together, Porirua’s Manager Water & Waste, David Down, said. “Nearly two-thirds of the contaminated recycling bins found during the audit so far has general household items in it, such as takeaway and coffee containers, polystyrene, plastic food containers, dirty nappies, tissues and food wrappers,” he said.
“We’ve also had really odd items like basketballs, coat hangers, handbags and chipboard. Things like this mean that other potentially valuable recycling material is ending up in the landfill.”
A common mistake is leaving lids on bottles.
“Please, remember to remove your lids from all plastic and glass bottles and jars. Anything smaller than a credit card can’t be recycled – it is too small to be processed correctly,” Mr Down said.
It is important Porirua gets its recycling right, so we have sent flyers to all Porirua residents, explaining the 3-Strikes Process in detail. There is also a short video on our website explaining how to recycle correctly, and you can always ring our contact centre on 04 237 5089 to ask questions.
Similar initiatives are occurring in other cities, including Hamilton, Christchurch and Dunedin
Age Concern are looking for Volunteers in the Northern Suburbs
Our Companion Walking Service provides one-to-one assistance for people who find walking on their own difficult or could you make a difference by being a regular weekly visitor to someone in your area.
We have a particular need for volunteers in the Northern Suburbs, please consider volunteering as we have seniors waiting for a companion.
Some Choice News!
DOC is rolling out a new tool to help figure out what to tackle first when it comes to protecting our threatened species and the things putting them at risk.
Why does this matter? As Nikki Macdonald from The Post points out, we’re a country with around 4,400 threatened species. With limited time and funding, conservation has always meant making tough calls about what gets attention first.
For the first time, DOC has put real numbers around what it would take to do everything needed to properly safeguard our unique natural environment. The new BioInvest tool shows the scale of the challenge: 310,177 actions across 28,007 sites.
Now that we can see the full picture, it brings the big question into focus: how much do we, as Kiwis, truly value protecting nature — and what are we prepared to invest to make it happen?
We hope this brings a smile!
💨 Wellington: Is the real summer finally here?
It’s the talk of the town (and every coffee queue): the Wellington "summer" has felt more like a very long, very damp spring! 🌧️ We’ve definitely had our fair share of grey skies and raincoats lately.
In fact, The Post reports that our "pretty average" summer has been tough on the local venues and events that usually thrive under the sun. But don't pack away the sunscreen just yet!
The good news? The next couple of weeks are looking a bit more "settled" (the Wellington word for "not a gale-force downpour"). With autumn officially here, now is the time to squeeze every last drop out of the season! ☀️
Any local hidden spots or activities you’d recommend for a calm Wellington day? Drop them in the comments! 👇
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