Kerbside recycling to be gradually reintroduced at Alert Level 3
Kerbside recycling services will be gradually reintroduced across the Taupō District from Tuesday 28 April, when we move to COVID-19 Alert Level 3.
Council is asking people to adhere to the following recycling schedule to ensure our trucks and sorting facilities can cope with the expected increase in demand and uphold the government’s strict health and safety and social distancing measures:
- Week One (Tuesday 28 April – Friday 1 May): Glass Only. There will be no kerbside recycling on Monday 27 April under Alert Level 4 lockdown rules.
- Week Two (Monday 4 May – Friday 8 May): Glass, Paper and Cardboard Only.
- Week Three (Monday 11 May onwards): Normal recycling collection resumes.
Along with the gradual reintroduction of kerbside recycling, council’s landfill and transfer stations will also reopen to the general public from Tuesday 28 April, with the following exceptions:
- No recycling accepted at Taupō, Kinloch, Turangi and Mangakino due to high health and safety risks.
- Eftpos only – no cash accepted.
- Sites will have customer limits using the facility, so please expect delays.
- Omori to remain at current service levels – only prepaid bags please.
Chief executive Gareth Green said that while these facilities are open, including for greenwaste, we are still encouraging people to remain at home, unless it is essential to visit.
“It’s important that we are still ensuring physical distancing and limiting face-to-face customer interactions as per the government’s instructions. Staying at home is the best way to do this,” he said.
“To ensure we are doing out utmost to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19 at our facilities, we have also had to hold off on accepting recycling at our facilities at this stage due to the number of staff needed at the site and a lack of physical distancing with the customers.
“Thank you to everyone who has stockpiled their recycling at home over the last month. It has been a district-wide effort and now we can move a bit closer to normality with these steps. At the same time, we are expecting larger volumes than normal at kerbside, so there may be some delays in collection, please be patient as we work through this.”
A number of other council services will also resume from Tuesday 28 April, with added health and safety measures. These include:
- Building inspections
- Mowing of high use parks and reserves
- Road and street light maintenance
- Some gardening services
- Doggy bag dispenser refills
- Compliance officer patrols and investigations of complaints
However, at Alert Level 3, all public venues must remain closed. This includes the following council facilities:
- Libraries
- Museum
- Pools
- Indoor Rockwall and Fitness Studio
- Playgrounds
- Freedom camping sites
- Taupō Events Centre
- Great Lake Centre
- Community Halls
- All customer service centres (available by phoning 0800 ASK TDC)