(PR.co.nz) The first 4340 of 45,000 yellow-lidded DCC wheelie bins, to be used in the city’s new recycling service, were unpacked yesterday.
The wheelie bins will be used in conjunction with residents’ existing blue bins to provide an easier and more extensive kerbside recycling system beginning next year.
Unbagged paper, untied cardboard, tins, cans and a wider range of rigid plastics (numbered 1-7) will be collected in the wheelie bin every second week. On alternate weeks, unbroken glass bottles and jars will be collected in residents’ existing blue bin.
The new service, which will begin on 28 February, 2011, will make it much simpler for people to choose to recycle, Mayor Dave Cull says.
“Aside from a quick rinse, recyclable materials can be placed straight into the bins, with a minimum of fuss,” he explains.
“We’ve had feedback from many residents which suggests they would like to recycle more, but would also like a simpler system.”
Residents have also expressed a desire to be sure their recycling is being put to good use, and Infrastructure Services Committee chairman Andrew Noone is delighted that DCC contractors have sourced national companies to reuse the recycled material.
Paper and cardboard will generally be sent to the North Island for use in new packaging, glass to Auckland to be made back into bottles, plastics to Christchurch for transformation into pipes, and tins and cans are expected to remain with scrap metal merchants in Dunedin.
The new recycling service will operate alongside the city’s existing weekly ‘black bag’ residual waste collection, which will remain unchanged.
The new wheelie bins will be in storage until mid-January next year when kerbside collection contractor Enviroway will begin delivery to households over a six-week period.
Information about the new service, including an individualised calendar indicating which week to put out which bin, will be delivered with the wheelie bins.
Media Release 11 November 2010 from Dunedin City Council.