Inorganic rubbish policy divides Auckland

A petition to bring back the inorganic rubbish policy Auckland Council changed a year ago has gained the support of more than 1500 people.

Helene Roelants, owner of Junk Sundays antique store, started the request three months ago, but has recently advanced with her cause through social media over the past two weeks.

Since posting on a few community pages on Facebook, Ms Roelants has gained 1,796 supporters almost reaching her goal of 2,000 signees.

She decided to start the petition because of the amount of inorganic items that was actually wasted as opposed to recycled.

Her petition states that members of Auckland’s recycling community have been affected by the change in inorganic recycling system which calls for members of the public to book collection trucks rather than having designated collection days.

Ms Roelants told Te Waha Nui that she saw collection trucks go around Mt Roskill recently in the rain and saw a lot of "good stuff" being left behind and getting ruined.

“I watched the trucks pick the stuff up and I went and spoke to the guys . . . I don’t think they’ve got an idea of what’s good and what’s not.

“A lot of stuff was just getting crushed and going to the landfill. I just started thinking about all of the people I knew that went through the inorganic and how badly it’s affected a lot of people,” she said.

A few supporters of the petition had their own reasons for signing.

For Lara Marino, the change in policy would affect the livelihood of many who rely on sifting through inorganic rubbish.

“I’m well aware of the mess that goes into our landfills. It’s unnecessary and the one use of things, which is quite ridiculous, can be reused many times,” she said.

Ms Marino also mentions the importance of the inorganic collection for many Pacific Island families who rely on the inorganics to send back what they deemed usable back to their countries.

However, those who are for the new policy find the new system well organised and convenient, such as Jill Taylor.

“Some people will want to use it to make money, but most of the people just want to get rid of the rubbish in a good way and I just think that it’s much more sensible. Keeps the streets clean, safer I would say too,” she said.

The petition will be presented to the Auckland Council once the 2000-signee goal is reached.