Chorus of protest over island's rubbish

Anu Grace and fellow Waiheke Islanders voice their concerns. Photo / Supplied

Waiheke Islanders fed up with writing letters to the council are trying a new approach - singing the praises of their local recycling service in a music video.

Keep Your Wheelie Bins in Auckland Central features Waiheke singer and music teacher Anu Grace and a chorus of islanders protesting against the council's plans to take their rubbish off-shore.

The islanders think their hand-sorted local recycling scheme is better than central Auckland's "one-size-fits-all" system.

They hope to influence the Auckland City Council before it makes a final decision on Thursday to replace more than 25 years of locally owned and operated recycling with a 10-year, multimillion-dollar waste contract with an outside company.

Producer Sue Connor said campaigners decided to record a song when they realised petitions, postcards and submissions asking the council to halt the tender process "had fallen on deaf ears".

Community leaders say they were not given a chance to comment on the scheme until after the council began the process of introducing wheelie waste bins.

Campaigners say much of the rubbish that is re-used on Waiheke would be wasted if islanders were forced to use a single wheelie bin, as the different types of material can contaminate each other.

The local operator Clean Stream Waiheke employs 22 islanders to run the weekly kerbside refuse and recycling collection and the Waiheke Transfer Station.

Executive director John Stansfield said Clean Stream had spent two years working with Auckland University to find ways to turn normally non-recyclable rubbish, such as plastic bags, and old meat trays into material that can be used for raised garden edgings and compost bins.

Ms Grace wrote the words and music for the song and recorded the video using a grant from the Australasian Performing Right Association. She said she wanted to portray the feeling of a community that was "really happy with what it has".

Waiheke resident John Hawkesby is among those who have urged councillors to listen to the environmentally sensitive community when making decisions on the island's future.

Lyrics

Visy's plant in Auckland's piling rubbish storeys high.
While we're making gold from ours under a clear conscience sky.
Do you think we want our resource to add to the flies on Onehunga's pile (Chorus: No!).
Keep your wheelie bins in Auckland Central.

* On the web: waihekedoesitbetter.org.nz/