Whanganui's Resource Recovery Centre looks to new options

Paper, cardboard and plastics 1, 2 and 5 are still welcome at Whanganui Resource Recovery Centre. Photo / Paul Brooks

Whanganui District Council encourages people to keep recycling paper and cardboard and plastics 1, 2 and 5 as usual while long-term options for dealing with paper and cardboard are investigated.

Council's waste adviser Stuart Hylton said this month the council asked the Resource Recovery Centre to stop accepting paper and cardboard (referred to as fibre) as it has become economically unsustainable due to the collapse of national and international fibre recycling markets.

The Resource Recovery Centre will continue to collect paper and cardboard until Thursday, December 31, and Stuart Hylton says in the meantime the council, along with the Resource Recovery Centre Trust, is working hard to find a solution so the centre can continue to accept paper and cardboard after December 31.

"With the current market ratepayers would have to continue to pay $180,000 per year to subsidise paper and cardboard and we think we can find a better solution.

"We're committed to environmental sustainability and are determined to find a better deal for our community in terms of cost.

"In coming months we'll be investigating all options to find new or alternative markets for paper and cardboard," Stuart Hylton says.

Councillor Rob Vinsen, chairman of the council's Waste Minimisation Advisory Group, says he's "very hopeful" a solution will be found.

Mr Vinsen says the council has also asked the centre to stop collecting plastics 3, 4, 6 and 7 and this will come into effect at the end of the year.

"Plastics 3, 4, 6 and 7 are rarely collected anywhere in New Zealand now. They're just 6-7 per cent of total plastic collected so this will have little impact in terms of sustainability."

Mr Vinsen says there are very good markets for 93 per cent of plastics collected at the centre.

"Whanganui's Resource Recovery Centre is known as a source of good quality recycling product," he says, "because we've got a great system with people bringing clean recycling in and separating it by posting it into the bins.

"The success of the Resource Recovery Centre is reflected in Whanganui being awarded Most Beautiful City last year – the judges were very impressed with the Centre's sustainability when they visited."

Mr Vinsen says people should keep bringing paper and cardboard and plastics 1, 2 and 5 into the centre as usual and can rest assured solutions for fibre are being investigated.