Recycling centre construction underway2 min read

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The first step towards the construction of  the Onehunga Community Recycling Centre (CRC) took place in March, with a dawn blessing at the Victoria Street site.

Around four dozen people attended the early morning event, including Councillor Josephine Bartley, members of the Maungakiekie Tāmaki Local Board, (MTLB) representatives of contractors Canam, Auckland Council’s Waste Solutions team, representatives of the Ministry of the Environment and local residents. Martin Te Moni of Ngaati Whanaunga and Adrian Pettit of Te Ākitai Waiohua led the Karakia to bless the site, followed by short speeches from a number of the dignitaries.

The CRC will run alongside the existing kerbside recycling collections, and it will offer an alternative to dumping useful items in landfills. Kerbside collections will be for small, single use items, such as cans, paper, plastic, glass and cardboard, while larger items like old pots and pans, broken furniture or electronics, old bikes and even old toys will be taken to the CRC rather than the dump.

At the CRC, anything that can be repaired or re-purposed will be processed and given a new life, while anything that isn’t repairable will be broken down to extract any valuable materials.

MTLB chair, Chris Makoare, said the CRC was part of an effort to “create change in people’s behaviour”. Speaking after the blessing, Josephine Bartley echoed this, saying “…we need to get used to not being a throwaway society.”

A feature of the facility will be that the Council will be working closely with the Onehunga community. They are looking for a local community group or charity to manage the CRC and sell the recycled items through local enterprises.

Parul Sood, programme director of Waste Solutions, confirmed that the CRC is on track to open near the end of 2021 as planned. She added the next step is to find an operator. The council will be calling for expressions of interest from local community groups and charities near the end of April. The exact date has not been decided yet, but she advised anyone interested in bidding to keep an eye on gets.govt.nz where the formal notice calling for tenders will be posted