March 21, 2002

The Auckland City Council has decided to discontinue a little-used waste coupon scheme.

The programme, called green.cycle, was introduced in July last year, to encourage people to compost green waste at home or send their green waste for composting at a centralised facility.

Chairperson of the Works Committee, Councillor Bill Christian, says the scheme is expensive to run.

“It was expected to cost up to $2.11 million this financial year, and given that a relatively small percentage of residents were using it, we’ve reluctantly decided to discontinue it two years earlier than planned.”

Councillor Christian said that from the money saved, $150,000 would be put towards educating people about recycling and how to reduce the amount of rubbish they put out for collection.

The green.cycle and recycling schemes are considered to have contributed to the 35 per cent reduction in waste sent to landfill since the council introduced a new waste management system in July last year.

Councillor Christian says these schemes had also meant a 66 per cent increase in recyclable rubbish being diverted away from “expensive” landfills.

The council will also investigate entering into joint venture promotions with the private sector in educating people about how to reduce their waste and the most effective ways to recycle rubbish.

ENDS

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