Devonport's waste transfer station is set to become a flagship for community recycling and zero waste innovation.
The facility at 27 Lake Road will be transformed into a community recycling centre throughout next year, with a new operator starting on site from March 2016.
The centre is part of a developing Resource Recovery Network that will provide recycling hubs in communities across Auckland, to significantly reduce waste to landfill.
Community destination
It is hoped the centres will become popular community destinations for businesses and residents to drop off goods, which can then be reused, recycled and refurbished. They will also generate job and training opportunities for local people.
Regional Strategy and Policy Committee chair Councillor George Wood says the Devonport site was the first recycling depot in the country more than 30 years ago, and is once again in the position to be at the forefront of change.
“Our residents have a history of being leaders and innovators in recycling, and have the chance to lead the region again as champions of zero waste thinking - a philosophy to reduce waste and use it as a resource.”
Visitors to the site can still dispose of their waste at the site as they do currently. Locals are invited to bring in unwanted items that can go to new homes as well as fossick for their own treasures.
The new operators are a charitable trust called Global Action Plan Oceania (GAPO). that will also develop new services that will focus on reusing more materials. The site will be run as a social enterprise to provide training, volunteering and job opportunities for local people, based on zero waste principles.
The charitable trust has a contract with Auckland Council to operate the centre for 5 years.
Waste Solutions manager Ian Stupple says: "We know the site is already a valued part of local life and we are looking forward to seeing it become more accessible, while offering a range of services that are relevant and helpful to people. We want to work with the local community to get better outcomes and show the rest of the region what can be done."
Future plans
The council is already developing three further facilities around the region, and aims to have 12 sites up and running in the next 10 years.
Establishing the Resource Recovery Network is a key action in Auckland Council's Waste Management and Minimisation Plan, adopted in 2012.
Seven paid full-time equivalent jobs will be created, plus volunteer positions.
The centre will have diversion from landfill targets of up to 70 per cent.
