Desktop greening turns blue

The government has scaled back a Beehive recycling scheme, eliciting accusations of hypocrisy from the Greens.

The dispute comes as Wellington takes first place in the latest ASB TopSpots report rating 12 cities on their eco-friendliness.

The capital's only failing, the report found, was its recycling record. The volume of recyclable materials collected per resident per year was only 59.6kg, compared with the 115kg gathered in the most diligent city, North Shore.

And now, the new Government has replaced the tiny rubbish cubes on the desks of ministers and their advisers with full-sized personal rubbish bins under their desks - which the Green Party says will undermine the Government's national efforts to reduce the waste going to landfill.

The previous Labour Government had taken away personal rubbish bins, and instead provided 10cm desktop cubes for non-recyclable rubbish.

Ministers and staff were required to sort paper into a recycling bin, under the desk. Other rubbish went into large bins in communal areas for organic waste, plastics, glass, tins, paper and non-recyclable waste.

Environment Minister Nick Smith called the "puny" desk bins impractical, ridiculous and a "cute gimmick" that achieved little.

"We want to see people taking a good, practical approach to recycling, not the over the top, nanny-state that was all-pervasive within the Beehive," he told the Herald on Sunday.

"I've heard horror stories of senior bureaucrats earning over $100,000 a year sitting around for an hour getting lessons on how to separate their rubbish."

But Green co-leader Russel Norman said: "Just because you're a ministerial adviser, does that mean you don't have to recycle and reduce waste but everyone else does?"

In offices elsewhere in Parliament, including those of the Labour Opposition and the Green Party, existing office recycling schemes are believed to continued unchanged.

And beyond the parliamentary precincts in the rest of Wellington, the city's environmental record has been adjudged to be good.

The TopSpots report findings are based on data from the Quality of Life Report commissioned by 11 city and one district councils whose combined population makes up 56 per cent of the national population.

The four Auckland cities put in a disappointing performance, with eco-friendly Waitakere in eighth place, followed by Auckland and North Shore.

Manukau came in last at number 12 but Rodney, the only district council in the survey, flew the flag for northern greenies in second place.

The results were compiled by Stephen Hart, who analysed the report and rated the cities according to criteria, including water consumption and ease of access to parks and public transport.

Hart also included satisfaction with work/life balance and perception of quality of life, arguing there's little point in a place that's "utterly green but nobody's happy".

Wellington Mayor Kerry Prendergast was delighted but not surprised by her city's top placing.

"Wellington is trying to be the first green capital of the world and we're well on the way to achieving that."

Prendergast said the city's compact nature and residents' support for public transport, walking and cycling helped it into top spot.

The report found 43 per cent of Wellingtonians use public transport at least twice a week, compared with 24 per cent of Aucklanders and 22 per cent of Christchurch residents.

To read the full TopSpots report, visit: www.iwantahome.co.nz.