Improvement Plan In Place For Central Hawke’s Bay Transfer Stations And Drop Off Centres

Central Hawkes Bay District Council is not happy with the current state of services at the District’s transfer stations and recycling drop off centres, and has agreed an improvement plan with its contractor, with noticeable results expected in the coming weeks.

“We acknowledge the state of our Transfer Stations and Recycling Drop Off Centres is not to the standard that we all expect - The condition of them is completely unacceptable, and I am as disappointed about the situation as the community,” says Monique Davidson, Chief Executive of Central Hawke’s Bay District Council. “The Council is working proactively with our contractor, Smart Environmental, to implement an improvement plan which will better the service and experience provided to our communities.”

“We are however dealing with an extremely complex situation where combined with an increasing demand and growth on services, is an environment where recycling is rapidly changing, as international markets to receive recycling become more and more difficult. I don’t highlight this to defend the situation, but to highlight the various factors that have contributed to the situation we find ourselves in.”

The improvement plan includes further staff and fleet deployed by Smart Environmental during the course of the initial clean-up, which has already seen e-waste contained at the sites for recycling and steel squashed into bales for removal. Transfer station pits are being emptied and open top bins will be in place to contain refuse.

“We unreservedly apologise to the community and Council for the reduced levels of service over peak-period,” says Benjamin Day, Acting Chief Operating Officer at Smart Environmental. “The customer experience over this period was unacceptable and not what we expect or deliver for our clients up and down New Zealand. Smart is committed to rectifying the issues and we are investing heavily in more people, infrastructure, fleet and technology to make sure we improve our services as fast as possible”.

“Although there is early work to be done in bringing the sites up to standard, we’re putting an emphasis on the sustainability of the improvements, to ensure we maintain the improved service levels,” says Ms Davidson. “We expect over the next week to see a marked improvement in the condition of the transfer stations, and our recycling drop off centres.”

Central Hawke’s Bay’s Waste Management and Minimisation Plan through to 2025 was adopted by Council in September 2019. It proposes a vision for a ‘Waste Free CHB’ which aims to increase diversion of waste from landfill from 32% to 70% by 2040; increase diversion from landfill from 32% to 48% by 2025; and increase participation in kerbside recycling services from 40% to 60%.

28 January 2020

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