A new community recycling centre for central Auckland at the Western Springs Garden is now a step closer after an Albert-Eden Local Board decision on a community lease for a site at 956 Great North Road.
At it's meeting on Tuesday evening, the local board granted a lease to the current occupants of the of the preferred site for the centre, the Auckland Horticultural Council Incorporated (AHC), to a community facility at an adjacent premise at 956 Great North Road.
The site within the Western Springs Garden is a preferred one and an ideal location for a new community recycling centre that would service not just those in the Albert-Eden Local Board area but neighbouring communities.
The building on the site will be developed as an educational and community recycling centre.
AHC had leased the building for the past 30 years but its lease expired in 2019. Auckland Council advised that no further lease of the building could be granted to the AHC but instead offered the group space at the rear of the adjacent Western Springs Garden Community Hall at 956 Great North Road.
The rooms at the new location was recently renovated and set up with AHC’s needs in mind. The Albert-Eden Local Board additionally offered to pay relocation costs to the AHC and soundproof the new premises.
“Albert-Eden Local Board is looking forward to the establishment of the much-needed Community Recycling Centre in the central area. There will be opportunities for local groups to get involved with developing the centre and setting up small enterprises around repurposing unwanted household items and materials,” says board chair Margi Watson.
“We see real benefits in AHC remaining on the site and running horticultural activities which will align really well with the work of the recycling centre and environmental education centre.”
As well as the new lease area, the proposed agreement also includes exclusive use of the adjoining Western Springs Garden Community Hall for specific days and times during the year for large events, an annual rent of $1 and a dedicated carparking area at the rear of the building. The AHC will have the opportunity to renew the lease twice at the end of every three year terms.
The full report on which decisions were made at the Albert-Eden business meeting on 15 September 2020 can be found here.The official minutes will be loaded at a later date.
Community recycling centres
The Auckland region has nine Community Recycling Centres from which a combined average of 437 tonnes of recyclable materials are diverted from landfill per month.
The centres have created more than 80 full and part-time jobs across the region and facilitated 5658 volunteer hours. When the next one opens in Onehunga, it is projected to divert the equivalent of more than a quarter of a million wheelie bins of material that would otherwise be going to landfill.
A community recycling centre for the central area is well supported by the Albert-Eden, Waitematā and Puketāpapa local boards as well as local environmental and sustainability groups. It is planned that the centre will be operated and managed by community enterprises.
The Ministry for the Environment recently just announced a $10 million investment in Auckland’s Resource Recovery Network to fast track the effectiveness of Community Recycling Centres through developing fit for purpose infrastructure.
