Economy's tumble produces benefits at the city rubbish tips

The dark cloud of the economic downturn brought a welcome silver lining for the environment.

The amount of rubbish dumped in landfills in many urban centres dropped substantially last year while the economy was in decline.

Kerbside collection schemes and waste levies may have also played a part, but waste industry bosses say the state of the economy has by far the biggest effect because of its influence on the amount of building and development waste.

"It doesn't matter where you go in the world, residual volumes of waste tend to be parallel to the graph of the economic climate at the time," said Canterbury Waste Services general manager Gareth James.

"When the economy goes well, there is more waste."

In Auckland, companies and households produced less waste last year.

The Waitakere Refuse and Recycling Transfer Station in Henderson processed 9.7 per cent less waste last month than in December 2008.

Waitakere City solid waste manager John Roscoe said that the drop was largely because of the economic downturn.

Householders put out less rubbish, despite recycling about the same or slightly less than previous years.

Manukau City Council waste management manager Patricia Facenfield said household waste collected from the kerb was down about 13 per cent - or about 10,000 tonnes - last year from 2008, and recycling rose only slightly.

Inorganic collections fell even more, people putting out 23 per cent fewer unwanted items for collection.

"That is a good indication that people aren't buying new fridges and beds," she said.

North Shore households also threw out less. Waste minimisation manager Warwick Jaine said the amount of landfill waste in the 2008-9 year was down 4 per cent on the previous year and recycling was down 5.7 per cent.

A big part of the drop in recycling was paper, which he said could be because fewer advertising flyers were being sent to households.

In Wellington, domestic waste was down 7 per cent last year.

But Mr Roscoe said an upswing in the economy or another building boom could bring landfill waste levels back up again.