Council food-scrap collections coming soon

Auckland Council will deliver its new food-scrap bins to householders over the coming months.

Devonport-Takapuna Local Board area residents can expect to receive their new rukenga kai/food scrap collection bins between May and June this year, along with a kitchen caddy, compostable bin liners and an information booklet for each household.

The bin contents will be collected weekly, on the same schedule as refuse collections.

An Auckland Council spokesperson said the food-scrap collection service will reduce the amount of scraps going to landfill.

They will instead be taken to a new Ecogas plant in Reporoa, between Rotorua

Full set... A council bin for compost (left), will soon join those for rubbish and recyling and Taupo, to be converted into biogas and fertiliser.

The plant uses anaerobic digestion technology, in which bacteria consume the scraps and produce the valuable by-products.

The biogas will be used to generate electricity that will power the facility and can also contribute to the national grid. Biomethane will also be fed into the national gas grid.

‘Digestate’ liquid fertiliser will be used on local farmland.

Food scraps that can’t easily be composted, such as fish bones, shellfish shells, meat scraps and dairy products, can all be collected and processed, a council spokesperson said.

Based on international participation rates, council predicts half of all food scraps will be diverted from landfill.

Spotlight shone on wheelchair-unfriendly reserve

The difficulties faced by wheelchair users at Milford Beach Reserve have prompted calls for Auckland Council to better cater for their needs.

Accessibility and inclusion advocate Kimberly Graham, acting on behalf of a Milford mother and daughter, brought the case for improvements to the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board’s last meeting.

Seeing photographs and video of obstacles to getting into and over the reserve prompted board members to ask council staff what could easily be fixed.

The lack of a pathway connecting the reserve playground and toilets was a flaw as was a large wooden seating block centred on a path.

“Seating is plonked in the middle of potential access to swings and slides,” said Graham

It was also poor planning that the wide concrete path that ran alongside the Wairau Creek from the pedestrian overbridge towards the beach ended abruptly on grass, rather than connecting to the sealed area and parks along the beachfront, she said. The grass was often too muddy for wheelchairs to navigate.

Graham had also spoken to the Creative Abilities group, whose members and caregivers were filmed trying to navigate access to the reserve.

Among issues identified was a drain that snagged wheelchair users trying to get from mobility parking on Craig Rd, between the Milford Cruising Club and the playground.

Raised rubber parking buffers along there were also badly placed, allowing cars to pull too far forward, encroaching into safe access ways along the side of the reserve. A similar problem was seen with parking buffers along the road’s beachfront section, where cars could nudge over grass picnic areas in a way that did not leave enough room for wheelchair passage.

Asked about the toilet block relatively recently completed, Graham said it was a standard accessibility design and so “not too bad”, but doors were quite heavy which was a design consideration to bear in mind.

A mobility park in front would be desirable and it would be great to have a fully acces- sible changing table with hoist such as at the Takapuna Beach toilets.

Other mobility parking on the beach side of the road, at the strip’s southern end, would be better to the north, she said rather than by unusable steps. “The beach isn’t accessible,” Graham added.

“If we can get certain things right it makes for a much easier and enjoyable day.”

Board deputy chair Terence Harpur said it would be good to look for some quick fixes. These would benefit those using pushchairs and prams as well, he said.

The presentation will be referred to the council’s parks and facilities team and to Auckland Transport (AT) for future consideration in planning.

Board chair Toni van Tonder said it would also ask for feedback from AT.

Member George Wood asked: “Is there some way of getting things done that doesn’t take forever?”

AT should be asked to move the rubber parking buffers and consider putting a metal plate across the drain, he said.