​Temporary Changes to Rubbish and Recycling Service

Below are the actions the South Taranaki District Council is taking following the Prime Minister’s announcement that New Zealand is at Alert Level 3 and moving to Level 4 at 11:59pm Wednesday (25 March).

South Taranaki District Mayor, Phil Nixon says the Council’s priority is to keep providing the core services such as drinking water, wastewater, roads and general waste collection to ensure the community has what it needs to get through this period.

“I can assure you that the water will keep running, your general waste will be collected, and the roads will be maintained,” says Mr Nixon.

“However, while essential services will still be operating, things may look or work a little differently.

For example, from tomorrow (Wed 25 March) we will only be collecting the red-lid general waste kerbside wheelie bins, because we can’t send our recycling to the recycling facility. This means we won’t be taking the blue (glass) crates or yellow lid recycling wheelie bins, or the green waste bins. All waste will be sent to landfill for the time being,” he says.

“We know this isn’t ideal, but it’s about guaranteeing one of our core services while keeping people safe from potential COVID-19 contamination.”

We’re encouraging people to compost their green waste, food scraps and store other recyclables for now, but put them in the red lid general waste wheelie bin if you can’t. We need you to keep hold of your glass until we can recycle it again.”

At this stage all Transfer Stations remain open as per their normal business hours.

Council has closed the following facilities to members of the public

• All LibraryPlus centres, Hawera Administration Building, Aquatic Centre, Halls, Museum, TSB Hub and i-SITE Visitor Information Centre and Playgrounds
• All council meetings have also been cancelled for the next 4 weeks

The majority of STDC staff are now working from home including those who are delivering essential services.

To contact us please use our freephone 0800 111 323, email contact@stdc.govt.nz or visit www.southtaranaki.com

For updated information about Council services keep an eye out on our Facebook page, Antenno, on our website and in our Southlink publication which appears weekly in the South Taranaki Star.

For all Government information on COVID-19 go to https://covid19.govt.nz/

“This event is unprecedented. There will be challenges and we won’t get everything right immediately and we appreciate your patience and understanding as we work through this,” says Mayor Nixon. “We’re all trying to do the best we can, with the resources we have while keeping the health and safety of our staff and our community as the top priority. We need everyone’s support to protect New Zealand and eradicate COVID-19.”