AUCKLAND CITY COUNCIL

MEDIA RELEASE

20 October 2006

Schools to receive free recycling service

Auckland city primary and intermediate schools are to be offered a free weekly kerbside recycling service with up to five “blue bins” for each school.

The council’s Works and Services Committee yesterday approved a policy change to exempt the schools from the annual $168 refuse targeted rate for a trial period to June 2008.

Committee chairperson Councillor Neil Abel hailed the initiative as a positive way of reinforcing important waste reduction messages to schoolchildren who would relate the bins to the one’s used at home.

“About 70 per cent of schools don’t use our standard service opting instead for private refuse collection with very little recycling occurring. We also know that schools are keen to recycle and I hope this proves the breakthrough for them,” said Mr Abel.

“We have a target of zero waste to landfill by 2015 and anything we can do to encourage recycling and waste minimisation will help us achieve this objective.”

The council will consider a recycling option for secondary schools when refuse collection and recycling contracts are renewed in 2008.

Secondary schools produce much higher quantities of waste and the existing blue bin service would struggle to meet their requirements.

“The volume of recyclable material produced by the average primary school is similar to that produced by households consisting of plastic bottles and some aluminium and steel cans so this is manageable by our current service,” said Mr Abel.

He said that the decommissioning of school incinerators this month provided another opportunity to introduce recycling as schools have to consider new ways to deal with their waste.

* There are about 170 schools in Auckland city of which 120 are primary or intermediate schools.

ENDS

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