Council opens new resource recovery centre

Council’s new Resource Recovery Centre at the Broadlands Road Landfill was officially opened yesterday by the Deputy Mayor with Councillors, representatives of the Tauhara Mountain Trust, Council staff and members of the community there to celebrate the occasion.

The new centre, which has an improved recycling area, a re-use shop and a recovery pit will help reduce the amount of rubbish being dumped in the landfill, which will help achieve Taupo District’s goal of reducing waste going to the landfill by 40% by 2010.

Deputy Mayor Christine McElwee cut the ribbon to officially open the new centre. “The space saved in the landfill will not only extend the life of the landfill but it will save ratepayers money in the long-term and will be environmentally friendly. The new centre provides the Taupo District with another opportunity to recycle and reuse.”

“I encourage all these local charitable organisations who are already in the recycling business, such as the Opportunity Shop, the Red Cross and the Salvation Army Shop to collaborate with Council’s new Resource Recovery Centre and spin off each other,” she said.

Non-commercial users of the landfill will no longer visit the tip face. Instead, rubbish is now tipped into a recovery pit which reduces health and safety risks at the tip face and allows for further sorting of rubbish by the contractors.

Households should keep in mind that rubbish bags put at the kerbside for collection will not be sorted at the Resource Recovery Park so putting recyclables into green bins is still important.

Reusable or recyclable items not placed in the recycling area are now sorted for recycling or reuse so that less rubbish is sent to the landfill. New weighbridges have been installed to weigh vehicles with charges being based on the weight of rubbish, providing a more accurate charge for a load.

The new recycling area is located before the kiosk and has a re-use shop for the community to purchase re-useable items and useful materials. Recycling has been extended with household batteries and agrichemical containers now included in the items you can recycle for free. Large recyclable items such as concrete, wood and greenwaste will continue to be recycled in their original areas.

Commitment to reducing and recycling at the new centre is shown in the 1,100 tonnes of crushed, recycled concrete used for the new roading in the centre.