Cardboard collection reprieve

It will be business as usual for the commercial cardboard waste collection in Warkworth and Wellsford, at least for the foreseeable future, despite a decision by Auckland Council to stop the service in July.

Current contractor Northland Waste has decided to pick up the slack when Council ceases funding the weekly trade recycling service as part of its new Annual Budget at the end of June.

Managing director Ray Lambert says Northland wants to continue the service and make it work, so business owners and shopkeepers don’t have to find new ways to get rid of their cardboard waste.

“We’re trying to make it work if we can,” he says. “Let’s see if we can run it for a few months and see if we can carry on with it.”

He says there are currently no plans to introduce collection charges for the service, the cost of which has been borne by ratepayers up to now.

“Not at this stage. I can’t rule that out, but let’s see what we can do first. The more participation we get, the better.”

Mr Lambert says there may be a need for some minor changes to maximise efficiency, but for now the company was concentrating on trying to make the service work.

“Some premises might be suited to having bins, or shared bins to make it more efficient to collect, but if we identify areas we’ll deal with customers direct, one to one,” he says.

Northland Waste’s decision to carry on with the collection was music to the ears of Wellsford businesswoman Sandra Shaw, who owns Wellsford Sports & Leisure. She has been collecting signatures and support online to fight Council’s proposal to withdraw the service, which was originally run by Rodney District Council.

She says cutting the service, which is only available in parts of Rodney, Waitakere and the North Shore, would be a step backwards, as it would be stopping something that’s good for the environment.

“I know it doesn’t seem fair that the whole SuperCity hasn’t got the same service, but I do think we should be able to keep our recycling. I receive at least five to six boxes a day, some people a lot more. I had nine today,” she says.

However, she is pleased at Northland Waste’s efforts to maintain the service.

“It’s very encouraging,” she says. “I wouldn’t mind sharing a bin with a neighbour to keep the service going. It’s really nice just to put it outside, but a bin would be better than having to put it into the car and drive it somewhere.”

Sandra wrote to Council in April but, apart from an acknowledgement, is still awaiting a response. Council acting general manager waste solutions Parul Sood said Council did not receive any formal feedback from Rodney businesses on the cardboard collection, but was made aware of a petition on Facebook, but this was received after the Annual Budget submission period closed.

Council’s move to stop funding the cardboard service was another step towards making waste services consistent across Auckland, he added.

One Warkworth manager Murray Chapman says Council needs to be consistent.

“If it takes the tack that this is a service being subsidised by the rest of Auckland, then why is Rodney subsidising the city based services such as transport, swimming pools and museums – all the things we don’t have, but pay for in our rates?” he says.