Call to waive rubbish fee

Judy Browne wants to keep Cambridge beautiful and is asking Waipā District Council for help.

Browne, 75, recently established Keep Cambridge Beautiful and spoke at Cambridge Community Board’s February meeting where she asked it to ask the council to waive the $5 fee for every bag of rubbish collected by volunteers.

“I am passionate about getting rid of waste,” the 75-year-old said.

The retired teacher who grew up on a dairy farm near Kihikihi brought one rubbish bag to the meeting with her that she had collected in 20 minutes from between the hedge and the footpath near the Velodrome.

“I am really happy to pick it up, but what do I do with it?”

“I will, of course, recycle, as much rubbish as possible, but the rubbish was contaminated with dirt and much of the plastic was disintegrating,” she told The News.

Keep New Zealand Beautiful national support manager Wayne Gazley sent Browne resources to support her initiative.

Browne asked the board whether the council could instruct its waste disposal teams to accept rubbish bags with Keep New Zealand Beautiful stickers.

She also urged the council to follow Dunedin City Council’s lead by replacing its public rubbish bins with recycling stations.

Community board chair Charlotte FitzPatrick said she could discuss Browne’s request with council staff as part of the council’s waste minimisation programme.

“It’s a really good idea,” said Maungatautari ward councillor Mike Montgomerie.

He offered to take it back to staff for advice.

Gazley said it was left to volunteers to go cap in hand to councils to get support for cleaning up their own community.

“When approached, most councils will assist. Each has its own way of dealing with rubbish collected by volunteers,” he said.

“The most common assistance is for councils to provide their own bags with stickers which are then left by their public bins and their contractor collects it when doing their rounds.”

In Lower Hutt, a photograph of the stacked rubbish is sent directly to the council contractor who will go and collect it from whatever location it is left in.

Kapiti have their own collection team (rather than a contractor) and will respond to a phone call to collect rubbish.

“Judy shouldn’t have had to appear before the Cambridge Community Board,” Gazley said.

“Someone in council should have been able to simply say, ‘Yes and thank you for wanting to volunteer to clean up our town for free.’  It would be most disturbing if the Cambridge council refused to provide bags and waive its $5 fee to her. The cost per year would be minimal for the impact she will make on the community.”