Western Bay's mobile recycling trailers ‘Recyclosaurus Rex' and ‘Sustainabox' are changing their schedule for winter.

After a successful summer of recycling, Western Bay of Plenty District Council's two mobile recycling trailers are moving to a new roster that's tailored to the community's preferences.

In their first six months of going out to rural depots, the mobile recycling trailers have built up a group of users who drop off recyclables every fortnight.

Primarily, these are rural residents who don't qualify for kerbside collection services and have to travel a long way to get to a recycling facility.

New roster

After a period of settling in, users were surveyed to understand when and how often they drop off their recyclables.

"The new roster is based on what they told us," says a council spokesperson.

Mobile recycling trailers will continue to rotate between the existing locations on a fortnightly roster each Saturday at the following times and locations.

The only change is a reduction in hours to optimise staff time and continue to deliver a convenient service.

Week 1, starting Saturday April 1 from 9am - 12pm:

BP Pongakawa, 1646 State Highway 2, Pongakawa
Omanawa Hall, 560 Omanawa Road, Omanawa

Week 2, starting Saturday April 8 from 10am - 12pm:

Te Ranga School, 1492 Te Matai Road, Te Ranga

Operations Manager Kerrie Little says that the rural recycling service has been a success, and is doing what they set out to do – support our rural communities with better recycling options.

'We're proud of what this service has achieved. Every weekend our team are out chatting to people dropping off their recycling and it's clear they appreciate the service," says Kerrie.

'And ka rawe to the community for making the effort to recycle. They have embraced the waste minimisation challenge and we're proud to meet them ‘half' way by taking the trailers a little closer to them.”

New roster reminders

Get reminders of the new roster by downloading

• a calendar to print and stick on your fridge, or
• the Antenno app to receive notifications of where the trailers will be each week (sign up for notifications about Te Ranga, Omanawa or Pongakawa)

The Antenno app will also notify you if the next session has been cancelled for any reason.

The mobile recycling service launched in October 2022. The names for the trailers were chosen via a public competition on Council's Facebook page.

The trailers were purchased with grants from the Waste Minimisation Fund and the Glass Packaging Forum.

Check out all the details of the service online at westernbay.govt.nz/mobile-recycling