Tomorrow (July 1) heralds a new way for recycling in the deep South and the 100-strong recycling team at Southland disability Enterprises could not be happier.

Invercargill’s recycling warriors were today celebrating news that their jobs were safe for another 18 months, after the Invercargill City Council confirmed it would contract their manual processing services for an undisclosed amount.

Invercargill City Council interim group manager – infrastructure Jane Parfitt said she could confirm the term of the contract was 18 months but not the value nor whether it was a decrease or increase on the value of previous contracts.

“The value of the contract is commercially sensitive . . . we won’t be commenting on the specific value of this contract compared to others,’’ she said.

The 100-strong SdE team have had an anxious year, learning in March that its eight-year, WasteNet recycling contract would end today and then being forced into COVID-19 level four shutdown for several weeks.

During that time, the recyclable materials they would have processed for export was dumped into the Southland Regional Landfill.

Southland disAbility Enterprises general manager Hamish McMurdo told the Southland App the team was delighted.

“Very much so. There is a whole lot of relief. There’s been a significant amount of anxiety and concern and fear, from their families as well,’’ he said.

The celebratory party fare included fizzy drinks, goodies and a large cookies-and cream-flavoured cake.

Mr. McMurdo said he did not expect he needed to make any changes to the type of service his team provided, or to the team numbers.

Ms Parfitt confirmed there would be no change to the kinds of recyclables collected and delivered to the facility.

The facility uses a recycling broker to export products once they have been sorted and loaded into containers for pickup.

“We are just thrilled we are able to do what we are good at. We still have good markets for the products we sort . . . It is not lucrative at the moment, but we are moving it.’’ Mr McMurdo said.

Once COVID-19 operating restrictions were lifted, the team had been successfully recycling products with only a few loads having to go to landfill because the items had been contaminated, he said.

WasteNet is a shared service between the three territorial councils – Invercargill City Council, Gore District Council and Southland District Council – and undertakes a range of waste reduction activities, of which recycling was just one.

However, Invercargill is the only council to have contracted Southland disability Enterprises’ services, with the Gore District Council and Southland District Council deciding recently to go their own way.

The three councils had not been able to find common ground on the costs of recycling.

The Gore District Council is now sending its paper and plastics recycling, along with household rubbish, straight to the Southern Regional Landfill near Winton.

However, garden waste can still be taken to the Gore Transfer Station for no cost.

Glass will be stored while the Gore District Council finds a market for it.

Southland District Council assets and services manager Matt Russell said that council had established an agreement with the Invercargill City Council to process the district’s recycling for the next 18 months, with Southland disAbility Enterprises to process its recycling.

Ms Parfitt said the city council and Southland disAbility Enterprises had approached negotiations constructively.

Ross Jackson was appointed to be the independent chair of the negotiating panel.

Mr Jackson said it became evident through the negotiations that SdE's strong 'social good' offering would result in a higher cost to the council than a purely commercial operator.

However, the council and the wider community had previously emphasised their desire to support that social good element, he said.

“The 18-month contract provides an opportunity to work in a different way and collect good data to ensure the best possible outcome for a longer-term contract when the time comes for that,” Mr Jackson said. 

As well as completing the contract, the parties have agreed a temporary drop-off service for recyclables will be in place at the Bond Street Transfer station in Invercargill from mid-July. 

 SdE closed the recycling drop-off area at its Ettrick Street location during COVID-19 Alert Level 4 and, due to health and safety reasons, had decided not to reopen it in its current configuration.

Mr McMurdo said SdE would be working on a permanent solution for a public drop-off point during the next three months.