The real cost of recycling

• Published date: 22 March 2023
• Publication title: West Coast Messenger, The

We already have some services in place to help reduce the amount of waste that goes into the landfill

Throughout the last few years, we have introduced new glass bins, and rolled out the yellow recyling bins and red waste bins to the wider Grey District.

There has been conversation around the sizes of these bins and whether the red bin should be the same size as the yellow bin. The purpose of having a larger yellow bin is to encourage more recycling, so that less waste ends up in landfill. These are the size of bins that have been trialled around most of the country and I hope that people are now starting to see the benefits.

The Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) is used by the government to assist New Zealand in meeting its emissions targets. This means that Grey District Council must pay per tonne of waste put into landfill for the emissions we emit. These costs have risen substantially and could rise further. Therefore it is vitally important to reduce the amount of waste that is going into landfill. The more waste we can divert to recycling, the lower our cost from the ETS. The benefit of this is helping to keep the service affordable for the ratepayer, as we don't want to see an increase in fly tipping.

We can all try to educate ourselves and our kids about the...