Waipā District Council’s annual recycling calendars will be going digital in 2022 in an effort to ‘walk the talk’ for waste minimisation, says Council’s Group Manager – Service Delivery Dawn Inglis.
“Our annual calendar distribution programme delivers approximately 22,000 recycling calendars to every household in the district which can be a costly exercise. The cost to deliver last year’s calendars was $31,920 across the 20 routes we have, which required a bespoke delivery service. We believe that many people are now comfortable with the service and we have a number of options for people to access the calendar waste-free, but we will also have hard copies for those who would like one,” said Inglis.
“The recycling routes won’t be changing, we’ll still continue to do a regular monthly glass bin collection and fortnightly yellow bin collection, so the only thing different is the physical calendar won’t be delivered to each household.”
Those who still prefer a physical copy won’t miss out, said Inglis.
Residents can collect a 2022 recycling calendar in person at any Waipā District Council office or library in Cambridge and Te Awamutu, request a physical or emailed copy here or phone 0800 WAIPADC (0800 924 723) with their address details.
Council staff will distribute the calendars as requests come in but advised there may be some processing delays due to Christmas shutdown.
Residents can also head to the Council’s recycling collection day finder to download their 2022 recycling calendar, or download the Antenno app (available for both Apple and Android devices on the App Store or Google Play) to receive a recycling notification on the day prior to collection sent directly to their device.
Council’s Transportation Team Leader Jennifer Braithwaite said this was one area where Council could make an impact.
“Distributing these calendars means every year we generated 22,000 pieces of paper, which although we use recycled paper, is still another item that ends up needing to be processed. I’m so pleased that we’ve been able to move towards more digital options so we can join other councils in walking the talk,” Braithwaite said.
Inglis said while the change would be an adjustment for some residents, she had been encouraged by others who had already used and enjoyed the digital options.
“We currently have over 3,500 residents who receive the recycling notifications via Antenno and we’ve had lots of postive feedback on social media from residents who use this system. Many comments we’ve received on our social media about recycling are those tagging their friends and family to encourage downloading the app because it’s so easy to use which has been very gratifying,” said Inglis.
Council’s Antenno notifications are sent out at 5pm on the day prior to collection, identify which bin is to go out and what goes in that bin, along with a reminder to put the bin out with the logo facing the road so it can be collected without interruption.
Click here for more information about the recycling collection service in Waipā..
