Waiouru leads in Ruapehu recycling

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 11, Issue 490, 15 June 1993, Page 1

Waiouru leads in Ruapehu recycling

Ten members of the Ruapehu District Council's sub committee on recycling visited some of Waiouru's less popular non-scenic attractions this week. Chairman Weston Kirton explained that the visit was the first in a series of visits to refuse and recycling operations in the North Island. Waiouru was chosen as the first visit because of its proximity to the cotincirs base in Taumarunui and its success in recycling. "Waiouru is already up and running (with recycling) We will take advantage of this and get the opportunity to learn from them," said Mr Kirton. The group toured Waiouru's refuse tip, recycling depot and sewerage treatment plant after

a presentation on the historical progress and future plans by Lieutenant Malcolm Harrison of the Property Management team. Lt Harrison announced th^t approval has been given for a full time recycling position to be established. Currently two full time workers are employed under the Task Force Green scheme but their contract is due to finish in August. Other proposals for the future of Waiouru's recycling scheme were discussed including another clean up of the scrap metal in the,. Army Training Area. The present recycling scheme was initially financed by revenue generated in a major scrap metal clean up in June/July 1991. In the near future Lt Harrison hopes to see

kerbside recycling with bins issued to each home in the army housing area. Policy needed Lieutenant Malcolm Harrison believes education is the key to successful recycling. Lt Harrison joined the Property Management team in May and he is keen to see Defence continue to take an active role in support of Waiouru's recycling scheme. "The problem we've encountered is the fact that within Defence there doesn't appear to be any policy on recycling as a whole," Lieutenant Harrison told a Ruapehu District Council sub committee. Lt Harrison went on to say that the continuity of projects within the Army is broken because key people are posted out of

the positions and the enthusiasm of their replacement can vary considerably. Lt Harrison believes that education must be the comerstone of a recycling policy - and not only for the adults. Waste reduction is also high on his list of priorities. There was dis-

cussion amongst the councillors about the difficulty of finding outlets for some of the materials, for instance plastic soft drink bottles (PET plastic) are proving difficult to recycle. For some items (such as glossy magazines) the recycling processes Turn to page 2