ENVIRO NZ driver and Te Kūiti identity Andy Algra, 60, has completed 10 years in his role, says he is blessed with good health. Photo Paul Charman
EFFICIENT weekly refuse collection is essential to both public health and maintaining the cleanliness of our local neighbourhoods. But though it seems a simple task, the machinery, traffic and waste itself create challenges for collection crews.
In hopes of making a tough but essential job a little easier, we asked Enviro NZ for a look at its operation in the northern King Country.
Speaking at their local headquarters, in Progress Dr, Ōtorohanga, operations manager Hayden Clarke said the kerbside collection service ran four days of the week, covering Te Kūiti, Kāwhia, Ōtorohanga and the Waitomo ward.
“The run takes our guys about 10 hours a day, during which time they’re constantly getting in and out of our truck. They’ll be picking up 60-litre bags as they go, plus sorting out the contents of recycle crates.
“These items go into the appropriate compartment within our specially designed 12-metre truck – so that means separating plastics, paper/carboard and glass right from the kerbside.”
Waste is sent to the Te Kuīti landfill. Plastics types 1 and 2; tins; aluminium; paper and cardboard go to Enviro NZ’s Hamilton plant for further sorting. Bottles and glass containers are sent to Visy Glass, Auckland.
While the physical demands of collecting all this material from the kerbside has not been fully quantified, Hayden has a pretty good idea of the energy burn required.
An operator wearing a pedometer, who was being trained up for the job a few years ago, reported he had done 77,000 steps by the end of his working day.
To put a human face to rubbish collection, Hayden introduces us to local Enviro NZ driver and Te Kūiti identity Andy Algra who has completed 10 years in his role.
Despite lifting hundreds of thousands of tonnes of rubbish bags and sorting acres of recycling in his career with Enviro NZ, Andy looks as fit as a fiddle.
“No, I don’t spend my money at the physio or the chiropractor,” he winked.
“And I don’t eat a special diet, just plenty of vegetables – though I cut down on potatoes recently for health reasons.
“No, the job isn’t easy – you must go for it every minute of the day that you’re not on a break.
“Rubbish bags may weigh next to nothing or be right up to the limit of 20 kilograms. We lift every one of them 1.2 metres on their way into the truck.”
So how does he stay fit for the job?
Sixty-year-old Andy shrugs.
“I’ve been blessed with good health. I don’t exercise at the gym to stay fit and supple . . . you could say the truck is my gym.
“It’s simple really, to stay fit for this job, I just do it and keep doing it.”
He has little doubt Enviro NZ is running an essential service for its community.
The value of refuse collection was vividly demonstrated during the Covid lockdown era. Back then, when collections were temporarily curtailed, people began storing their rubbish and recycling.
“When restrictions ended and refuse collection resumed, the streets were suddenly lined with rubbish bags.
“There were bottles lined up as far as the eye could see, plus every other kind of recycling.
“It was a putrid mess and we had to work longer hours to tidy it all up; it all took a full two weeks to settle down.”
Do people play the game when it comes to putting out their rubbish and recycling?
“Yes, for the most part,” Andy said.
“You get the occasional householder who conceals dangerous materials, like broken glass or bathroom tiles inside a rubbish bag, without first wrapping them in newspaper. Not only should such sharp objects be wrapped; the bag should also have “broken glass” clearly written on it.”
He said some bin owners were cunning, covering up unacceptable rubbish in their recycling bins such as sharps, soiled unwrapped nappies, or electrical appliances with a layer of innocent looking material on top.
“They cover that sort of stuff up thinking you’re not going to see it once you begin emptying the bin. But you do see it. People just seem to get lazy and so they need more education to prevent this kind of behaviour.”
Andy has been subject to complaints from people who have seen him emptying sticky papers and other contaminated material from their recycling bins, into the waste compartment of the rubbish truck.
“I like to take a pride in what I do by doing it properly. So, if I see something like old munted McDonalds wrappers, or whatever, stuck to the bottom a recycle bin, I empty it all into the waste materials.
“More than once people have spotted me doing this and telephoned the council to complain. They assume I’m emptying their recycling into the waste materials, but that just doesn’t happen.”
Andy would like to live in a world where all drinks came to the public in recyclable glass bottles, preferably ones sold with a return deposit included in the price. He also would prefer that more products, such as ice cream, were packed in cardboard rather than plastics.
“We live in a world with finite resources and landfills that are filling up fast. If everyone would reduce, re-use and recycle we’d all be so much better off.”
