Recycling facility is coming for Maruia and Springs Junction
Buller District Council will make it easier for residents in Maruia and Springs Junction to recycle from this week onwards with a recycling container located at the Maruia Landfill and Recycling Facility.
From Thursday 6 April 2023, the Maruia Landfill and Recycling Facility on SH 65, 12km from Springs Junctions, will offer an easy to access option to recycle to residents.
The recycling container has six boxes, one for plastics, one for paper/cardboard, one for cans and three for each colour of glasses (clear, brown, green).
Residents can dispose their recycling during opening hours each Thursdays between 1pm - 2.30pm.
A recycling container had previously been located at Springs Junction but was removed in May 2021 when the government’s Freedom Camping Fund ceased and due to issues council faced with people not separating recycling materials as required and dumping waste outside the container, creating a horrible mess and contaminated recyclable materials. Due to this, the recycling had to be disposed of as refuse.
The container has since been stored at the Westport transfer station until a new location and funding was found.
Council’s solid waste coordinator Juliana Ruiz says: “We always had the intention to provide a way for people in Maruia and Springs Junction to recycle, however having an unsupervised facility was not the way to go.”
Ms Ruiz says the community needs to follow the recycling guidelines to make this work: “Everyone needs to follow the recycling guidelines and dispose their recycling correctly at the container.
If people dump waste, or do not recycle right, the recycling can’t be recycled and will go to landfill. This will in the long run create issues that could again put recycling at Maruia at risk.”
Recycling is transported to the Westport Transfer Station where it is checked, sorted and compacted to be sent to processing plants. These costs are paid out of council’s solid waste budget. This is funded from central government’s Waste Minimization Levy Fund to councils.
The Waste Minimisation Levy Fund is a grant granted from the Ministry to each Council around the country, as a refund for the levy paid for each tonne of waste disposed. Each council receives a share to support waste minimisation initiatives.
It is essential everyone follows these guidelines using the recycling facility at Maruia:
- Only plastics #1, #2 and #5 are accepted, ensure that they are thoroughly rinsed and clean.
- Only clean flat cardboard and paper that is bigger than an envelope and has no liquid residue or food contamination are acceptable.
- Aluminium tins and glasses must be rinsed and be without any food residue.
- Glass must be separated by colour green, brown and clear.
- Do not leave any recycling material outside of the container at any time. If the container is full, dispose of your glass at the Reefton Transfer Station during opening hours. Do not leave material next to the container or surrounding areas.
- No unbroken glasses or mirrors. They need to be disposed o
- Scrap, green waste, e-waste (electronical waste), whiteware, large batteries, household batteries, agre-containers are received at the Reefton Transfer Station and Recycling Centre located at Willowbank Road in Reefton.
Background
The Buller District is divided into three zones for recycling and refuse. Each of these zones has their specific guidelines for recycling and refuse. Maruia and Springs Junction belong to recycling and refuse zone three.
The Maruia landfill is owned and operated by council.
-ENDS-
further information please contact:
Solid waste coordinator
Juliana Ruiz
[email protected]
Note to the reader:
The installation planned for April 2023 had to be postponed to June 2023 due to further construction work to the platform the recycling container is placed on.
The platform was altered and the recycling container was operational at the end of June.