{"id":459561,"date":"2026-06-03T22:42:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T22:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/459561\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T22:42:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T22:42:09","slug":"recycling-whanganui-district-council-importing-crate-nets-to-counter-windy-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/459561\/","title":{"rendered":"Recycling: Whanganui District Council importing crate nets to counter windy days"},"content":{"rendered":"

Harrison told the council\u2019s operations and performance committee nets would be delivered to properties in September, in time for \u201cthat windy spring season\u201d. <\/p>\n

Her report to the committee said a pre-trial resident survey showed recycling blowing from crates was \u201ca near-universal experience\u201d, with 14% saying it never happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cWind disruption is the dominant concern \u2014 53% say it has affected how often they put recycling out.”<\/p>\n

The kerbside service, which began in July 2024<\/a>, will cost households $162 in the 2025-26 financial year.<\/p>\n

Harrison told the committee funding for the nets would come from the Ministry for the Environment\u2019s Waste Disposal Levy, with no extra cost to ratepayers.<\/p>\n

She said the kerbside contractor<\/a>, Low-Cost Bins, had no negative feedback about the nets.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were saying it\u2019s a lot easier than versus a windy day when they\u2019re running around picking up little bits and pieces.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"WasteWaste services manager Morgan Harrison says using crates means a low contamination rate.<\/p>\n

Councillor Rob Vinsen, who holds the council\u2019s waste portfolio, said the crate presentation rate for the kerbside service was about 68%, \u201cright up there with most cities in New Zealand\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said the council got a lot of criticism for using crates instead of wheelie bins but contamination rates were higher in other centres where bins were used.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce we get these nets and get rid of our most serious problem, which is windblown litter, I think it\u2019ll really confirm we made the right decision of getting crates for this service.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harrison told the Chronicle last November<\/a> there were no plans to \u201cchange the methodology\u201d of the kerbside service.<\/p>\n

Formerly the waste operations lead at New Plymouth District Council, she said there had been a 25% contamination rate in its recycling wheelie bins.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt our end, we are seeing 1% or 2% contamination when we do audits at Liffiton St [transfer station]<\/a>. It\u2019s working really well.”<\/p>\n

Harrison told councillors there had been a significant drop in the amount of glass collected through the kerbside service.<\/p>\n

Her report said from January to March this year, 117.1 tonnes of glass were sent for processing, compared with 184.5 tonnes over the same period in 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt may be that producers are switching from glass to aluminium in the beverage department,\u201d she told councillors.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also noted a similar trend at the resource recovery centre.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said cardboard would be collected from the crates if it was \u201cno higher than your knee\u201d when stacked vertically.<\/p>\n

The council had not looked closely at a strike system for crate contamination, Harrison said. <\/p>\n

\u201cAuckland, Christchurch and Lower Hutt, they have a three-strike system and they\u2019ll take your bin away.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to educate and promote, rather than disincentivise the participation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The council said households would receive information and instructions with the nets, with details about timing and delivery areas to be given closer to the start of the programme.<\/p>\n

Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily Whanganui District Council.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Harrison told the council\u2019s operations and performance committee nets would be delivered to properties in September, in time…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459562,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[7236,5205,13736,73558,4731,22048,7557,273,29012,35195,69710,12069,3805,111,139,69,7565,3354,147,61,1883,21083,1533,10000,66367],"class_list":["post-459561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-combat","tag-council","tag-counter","tag-crate","tag-days","tag-disruption","tag-district","tag-environment","tag-households","tag-importing","tag-kerbside","tag-nets","tag-network","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-receive","tag-recycling","tag-science","tag-to","tag-whanganui","tag-whanganuis","tag-will","tag-wind","tag-windy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}