Kerbside recycling starts again for Wairarapa town residents from today.
But rural dwellers will still not have access to transfer stations.
Refuse and recycling has been piling up in Wairarapa homes during the Covid-19 coronavirus lockdown. Photo: Supplied / Wairarapa Times-Age
Cardboard, glass and plastics have not been collected across the area since the start of the Covid-19 lockdown on Thursday 26 March.
Council bin bags have been collected in Wairarapa's towns, but transfer stations have remained closed, and there is no collection for rural addresses.
"While we appreciate this will be increasingly inconvenient for rural residents not receiving kerbside collection of rubbish and recycling, the councils' aim must be to adhere to the government's priority, and that is to ensure people stay home to break the chain of infection," said Masterton District's Kathryn Ross, speaking on behalf of Masterton, Carterton and South Wairarapa District Councils.
"That includes not going to transfer stations to drop off rubbish or recycling."
The two-week break in collecting recycling was to ensure appropriate safeguards against Covid-19 were in place.
The three district councils were now satisfied that staff at Earthcare, the councils' refuse provider, were protected using appropriate personal protective equipment, Ross said.
She asked that people try to avoid overloading bins if they had more recycling than normal.
"It is important, to ensure the health and safety of contractor Earthcare's staff, that bins are not overloaded. We also want to minimise the need for manual handling of recycling so please ensure no soft plastic, glass or general rubbish is put in wheelie bins."
All transfer stations in Wairarapa remain closed to all but essential services.
Collections of recycling started one day later than normal, on Tuesday 14 April, because of the Easter Monday holiday.
The exception was coastal communities - Castlepoint, Riversdale, Tinui, Lake Ferry, and Ngawi - where collections took place on Monday 13 April.
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