4 May 2004

Annual allocation of Council rubbish bags halved

Ratepayers will start receiving coupons for their 2004-2005 annual allocation of Council rubbish bags this week - providing one pack of 26 bags.

These coupons can be used at most supermarkets until 13 June, 2004, and at any Council Service Centre or the Civic Offices until 30 April, 2005.

People renting properties should get their annual allocation of bags from their landlord or property manager.

Ratepayers will only be charged for 26 rubbish bags, but still have the choice to buy more Council rubbish bags if needed. The reduced annual allocation from 52 is part of the Council’s effort to reduce waste going to landfill and shift attitudes on waste treatment.

The Council instead aims to encourage home composting, recycling, and reusing of resources because research shows that over half the contents of an average household rubbish bag could be composted or recycled. Each year in Christchurch people throw out a staggering 228,000 tonnes of resources or 650kg of waste for every person in Christchurch. That is about 40 city buses full of waste being sent to landfill each day.

For helpful information on how to reduce rubbish, visit www.ccc.govt.nz/waste

ENDS

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>