WasteNet Southland and Southland disAbility Enterprises have announced today that recycling processing services will restart on Monday, May 11.

Due to COVID-19, manual recycling processing services were not able to be safely conducted at Alert Level 4, resulting in recycling being disposed to landfill.

Southland disAbility Enterprises General Manager Hamish McMurdo said the team had worked hard to ensure recycling can be safety sorted from May 11.

“We know how important it is to our residents that we resume recycling and our team is excited to get back to work processing Southland’s recycling. As we are operating at Level 3, there are many restrictions and guidelines to follow. We are only able to bring in a limited number of staff to cover the operation on the MRF which manually processes the contents of Southland’s yellow recycling bins.”

“We have been busy writing procedures and organising our business to ensure physical distancing is maintained at all times. We have also added extra PPE and the regular sanitising of machinery to assist in keeping our team safe.”

However, he said at Alert Level 3, Southland disAbility Enterprises was unable to resume any of its wider operations and services such as the recycling drive through facility or business processing.

“If you are a regular user of the Invercargill recycling drop-off please stockpile clean recyclables until we are in a position to reopen the drop-off area.”

Senior WasteNet Officer Donna Peterson said recycling would be being hand sorted from May 11, which meant residents should make sure any rubbish was removed from their Council yellow recycling bin before it was collected.

“If you have been using your yellow recycling bin for general waste under Alert Level 4, now is the time to stop and wash out your bin. Like always, all plastic, metal and glass needs to be empty and thoroughly washed before going into your yellow bin.”

“Please be kind, and consider the safety of the Southland disAbility Enterprises team,” Ms Peterson said.

“Remember a person has to handle your recycling once you have binned it.”

“Resuming safe recycling in Southland means that we can look after our environment, and contribute to local employment,” she said.