Plastic dog tags are set to become a thing of the past in Wellington City and Lower Hutt, following the introduction of the One Tag for this year’s dog registrations.

The One Tag is a metal tag designed to last a dog’s lifetime. Dog owners will still need to pay their annual registration fees, but they can keep using the same tag as long as they live in their Council’s jurisdiction.

Wellington City Mayor Andy Foster says the One Tag initiative is being introduced by Wellington City Council, Hutt City Council and Selwyn District Council, with the aim of reducing the amount of plastic waste going to the region’s landfills.

“In the last five years alone we’ve issued around 60,000 plastic dog tags in Wellington City, and given there are currently around 14,000 dogs registered in the Capital and that number is continually increasing, the switch to the One Tag will make a big difference over time.”

Chair of the Hutt City Council Infrastructure and Regulatory Committee Deborah Hislop adds that Hutt City Council is seeing an increasing number of complaints from customers about them sending them a piece of plastic each year which can’t be recycled.

“Environmental sustainability is really important to our community, so our systems and processes need to reflect that. We’re increasingly moving towards online transactions, so once the One Tags have been sent out this year, we’ll be creating less paper waste too.”

The One Tag is lightweight yet durable and comes in two sizes – 25mm for small dogs and 35mm for larger dogs. Wellington City Council tags are yellow, while Hutt City Council tags are blue. The back of the tag is blank so owners can get it engraved with their dog’s name or their contact details if they wish.

Under the Dog Control Act 1996, all dogs are legally required to be registered by the age of three months. Registration is due by 1 July of each year (31 July in Lower Hutt), and owners of unregistered dogs may be charged an infringement fee of $300.

Animal Control Officers can access registration records remotely when they are out on patrol to check whether a dog is currently registered. All dogs registered after 1 July 2006, except working dogs, need to be microchipped too.

More information on the One Tag can be found at: www.wellington.govt.nz/onetag or www.huttcity.govt.nz/Services/Animals/owning-a-dog

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