Inorganic rubbish collection popular

Auckland City Council’s Works Committee heard today that the 2003 inorganic rubbish collection netted 10 per cent more rubbish than in the 2001 inorganic collection.

The isthmus was divided into 17 rubbish collection areas and the collection was carried out from 17 February to 20 June. The collection on the Gulf islands (Rakino, Great Barrier and Waiheke) took place during the latter months of 2002.

“This year’s collection went off with very few hitches and most residents co-operated well to help keep the city as tidy as possible by waiting their turn to put out rubbish,” says Councillor Bill Christian, chairperson of the Works Committee.

A total of 9262 tonnes, 8404 tonnes from the isthmus and 440 tones from the Gulf islands, was collected from 134,000 residential dwellings. This equates to just over 60kg per dwelling. Some 418 tonnes of the material collected, including steel, greenwaste and 8120 tyres, went to recycling.

The HazMobile service for the collection of household hazardous rubbish was run in conjunction with the inorganic collection. Attendance at the five collection points exceeded Auckland regional records. Some 4089 cars turned out and a total of 79 tonnes of household hazardous rubbish was collected, comprising the following: 43 tonnes of paint, 16 tonnes of waste oil, 13 tonnes of car batteries, 6 tonnes of household chemicals and 0.7 tonne of garden chemicals.

“It’s encouraging to see record numbers of people disposing of hazardous rubbish in a responsible way by using the HazMobile service,” says Mr Christian.

The cost for the combined inorganic rubbish collection and the HazMobile service was $1,660,000.

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