The Wellington Youth Council’s calls for the introduction of recycling facilities at central city apartments and university hostels have been met with inaction from the City Council.
Currently in Wellington, there are 10,000 residents in 3,500 apartment buildings and approximately 2,400 students in 15 different hostels. However, despite a policy of “[encouraging] greater reuse, recycling and recovery in the wider community,” residents in these buildings are not provided with recycling options.
“Costs” have been cited as the biggest obstacle, with Youth Council member and university student Waruna Padmasiri estimating that it would cost approximately $10,000 for all university hostels to recycle.
The City Council’s annual budget allocation for recycling is over $1.7 million.
Suggestions made to the City Council by the Youth Council include funding to collect recycling from hostels through contractors, or allowing hostels to use the curb-side recycling system.
“At the moment, the [City Council] keeps saying that it’s up to the individual ‘business’ to take responsibility,” says Padmasiri. “[But] there is no reason for the hostels to bother with it, when it will cost them more than it will cost to use a big skip bin.”
Padmasiri is currently organising a petition and is planning a recycling audit at some of the hostels. He welcomes volunteers.