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Kapiti Coast District Council
Location: Wellington Region
Population:42,000
In May 2001, Kapiti Coast District Council officially adopted a goal of Zero Waste to landfill by 2015.
Kapiti Coast is in the process of developing a full zero waste strategy, but aims in the short term to upgrade all of its "drop off" centres. To do this, they have developed a prototype recycling centre, which will be offered to Councils nationally.
The Recycling Centre is designed as a collection site for a range of materials, with recycling bins inside a walled off area, and drop off holes and signage on the outside. Collection vehicles will be able to drive directly into the facility to empty bins. (See description and plans below).
Kapiti Coast District Council also aims to build a Resource Recovery Park in 2004/5 and to increase the charging differential for greenwaste and mixed waste to promote their large scale greenwaste composting operation.
Further community education and waste minimisation promotion is also planned.
One of the six recycling stations located throughout Kapiti District, Paraparaumu, is the first to be redesigned into a 'courtyard recycling site'. The new drop off centre, located behind the supermarket Pak 'n' Save, was part funded by the Zero Waste New Zealand Trust. It is set on a concrete base and surrounded by sturdy galvanised steel supports. The structure is clad with colour steel and has a series of slots ready to accept a wide range of recyclables. The facility now offers good public access, visibility and a unified courtyard theme.
Paraparaumu Recycling Drop-Off Station
The optimum location for recycling drop-off stations is usually an area that has good public access, is highly visible and well lit at night. Such areas typically occur in the parking facilities of shopping centres. However, unless councils can provide facilities that present a neat and well-ordered image it is unlikely that permission will be obtained to construct a recycling drop-off station in such an area. In addition, the cost of designing and constructing facilities with an acceptable façade may prove beyond the budget of many councils.
Faced with this problem, Geoff Strand, Solid Waste Manager of the Kapiti Coast District Council, has come up with an idea for a courtyard style recycling drop-off station. The drop-off station is constructed out of standardised corner units, entry gates and a variable number of modular side panels to suit site specific requirements.
By standardising the corner units, gates and side panels, the structural design costs are incurred for the first station only, and by cladding the structure with coloured roof sheeting, an enhanced image is obtained.
With backing from the Zero Waste New Zealand Trust Geoff commissioned MWH New Zealand Ltd. to design the structural components to cope with wind loads for most localities in New Zealand, assuming firm clay or compacted sand founding conditions. The design also included an order form for the individual components and a section to plan site specific station layouts. The design drawings are being adapted for general use and are available to Councils nationwide.
Two different types of side panels were designed, the significant difference between the two being the width of slot opening. The intention was that certain recyclables, such as cardboard, require a larger width opening in order to make it easy to push the cardboard through the slot and into the cage or bin placed behind the façade.
The first recycling drop-off station designed in this manner has recently been constructed at the Coastlands Shopping Centre in Paraparaumu. To assist users of the facility the standardised recycling symbols developed as a Recycling Operators of New Zealand initiative were used, together with photographs of the acceptable materials. Anecdotal evidence from the operators of the facility points to a large increase in the amount of recyclables being accepted at the drop-off site.
Structural plans of the recycling station can be downloaded below in a pdf format.
General arrangements (58KB)
Panel Details 1 (121KB)
Panel Details 2 (82KB)
For further information contact Geoff Strand at geoff.strand@kcdc.govt.nz or call 04 904 5853.
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