Covid 19 Omicron outbreak: Wellington stops glass recycling, public transport to be stretched to the limit

Wellington City Council has reported several of its waste collection contractors are unwell with Covid. Photo / 123rf

Glass recycling isn't being collected in Wellington from today, public transport will likely be stretched to the limit, and pools have closed early for the summer.

The city is feeling the effect of a shortage of workers due to people either isolating as contacts or testing positive for Covid-19.

Yesterday the Ministry of Health reported there were 24 people in hospital within the Capital & Coast district health board area and1,545 new cases. There are also 837 in the Hutt Valley, and 99 in Wairarapa.

Across the three health boards, the DHBs are now reporting a total of 17,596 active cases.

Across the country there were 696 people in hospital and 17,921 new cases.

Wellington City Council has reported several of its waste collection contractors are unwell with Covid.

"For health and safety reasons, the crew will be prioritising rubbish and recycling collections."

This means from today there will be no glass recycling collections until further notice.

It comes just a few days after the council reported about a quarter of Wellington's co-mingled recycling will be sent to landfill due to the impact of Covid-19 on staff at the Seaview sorting plant.

Meanwhile, more than 100 front-line staff working on the city's transport network have been affected by Omicron.

Metlink general manager Scott Gallacher said he expected this number to increase as the pandemic reached its peak in the region.

"We are absolutely focused on continuing to provide an essential service to our communities, but the reality is that our resources are likely to be stretched to the limit as frontline and support staff become unable to report for work."

Gallacher acknowledged keeping buses, trains and ferries running in a rapidly changing environment will be difficult.

"But we will reconfigure the network as needed, particularly on our key routes. We may have to use a combination of cancellations and timetable changes, but we'll keep as many people travelling on the network as possible."

"We would like to thank our communities for their ongoing patience, kindness and understanding as we continue to navigate a global pandemic".

Across the city, pools have also been closed because there are not enough lifeguards to safely open all of them.

Thorndon Pool closed early for the season on Sunday- it would normally be open for another month.

Khandallah Pool will also be closed due to staff shortages this weekend. The much-loved Dogs in Togs event will not be going ahead.

The council will try to open the outdoor summer pool for an additional two weekends, depending on staff availability.

"Our continuity plan prioritises keeping indoor pool facilities open, based on usage and demand. This requires staff from our summer pools to be redeployed, hence the need for Thorndon's early closure," the council said.

"There is a significant challenge to be weathered over the next few weeks with Omicron and the availability of staff, and we're doing our best to keep as many facilities open as we can."