AC Baths and Taupō Events Centre complex is getting a waste makeover

From Tuesday 11 April, instead of a whole fleet of rubbish bins you’ll see two recycling and refuse stations; one at the AC Baths, and one at the Taupō Events Centre.

This is to encourage visitors to recycle as much as possible, rather than toss everything in the nearest bin. The old bin system generated 57 bags of rubbish per week – that’s a lot!

Taupō District Council waste minimisation officer Shannon Hanson says that reducing waste is a whole-community effort.

“Taupō District Council is dedicated to making changes that help with waste minimisation. This can be through education or by changing our own practices - we want to walk the talk.

"We hope the community helps us out by doing its part at the AC Baths and Taupō Events Centre because at the end of the day the state of our environment affects everyone.”

Shannon says for the parents of young children there will be specially-designed nappy bins in the family changing rooms to prevent regular waste being contaminated.

“Whenever nappies go into the regular bins, the bin needs to be emptied pretty much straight away because the bins are not made to contain human waste and will smell really bad. So please do everyone a favour and use the special nappy bins!”

The AC Baths’ Fitness Studio is also cutting down on waste by removing the paper towels used for cleaning the fitness equipment. Instead, each user will use have their own microfibre cloth to use, along with spray bottles around the studio. Cloths will be collected as users leave and washed before being used again.

“We’re excited to be saving a lot of paper and rubbish from going from the events centre and AC Baths to landfill,” Shannon says. “With our community’s help we’re sure this new initiative will be a great success.”