Over the last few days Auckland has seen an astronomical amount of rain. Starting from the 27^th of January, which was the wettest day Auckland has ever seen in its history.

Floods destroyed many homes, stores and facilities, forcing people to evacuate. People were seen leaving their homes that were flooded up to waist high, and in some areas the water was even higher. Wet, unstable land led to landslides, homes leaked and roads overflowed with water leaving cars broken down and strained on the road.

Auckland airport terminal flooded and was closed until midday the next day and some grocery stores shut, such as New World in New Market due to flooding and impact on stock.

Now the hardest part starts – the clean-up; removing contaminated items, wet carpet and more.

Wet carpet

The dangers of leaving wet carpet down can be worse than just ripping up the carpet up and starting new. Wet damaged carpet can hold water extremely well and for a long period of time, this results in mould forming and than developing into black mould which can be deadly.

Therefore, ripping up the carpet and underlay is one of the first things you need to do if your house or a room has been affected by the flooding.

Ripping up the carpet

Carpet removal is easy with the right tool. All you need is a blade knife. To start the removal process, lift one corner of the carpet up and pull back as hard as you can, as you pull take your blade knife and cut the carpet into wide strips. This will make the carpet easy to move, as wet carpet can be heavy. Work your way around the room, watching out for the little nails on the edges of the carpet.

Once the carpet is cut and in strips and rolled up, move the carpet into one pile outside, making sure the pile is on your property.

Disposing of the wet carpet

If you removed a whole house load of carpet, a skip bin is the best way to remove the waste. The perk of a skip bin is that you can load as you remove the carpet.

If you don’t have space on your property for a skip or flexi bin, we can come collect your carpet for you. We provide truck rubbish removal service around the Auckland region. Place your carpet in a pile, give us a ring for an estimate quote and we will come remove and dispose of your carpet for you.

Wet furniture/items

If your furniture and items also got wet, there is a high chance that they are contaminated with the mud and dirt from the water. This can cause items to become moldy and dangerous to your health. We recommend removing and disposing of all furniture items that were badly affected in the flood. Items such as wooden drawers, dressers, bed bases and mattresses soak up a lot of water and are almost impossible to restore, therefore they need to be disposed of.

Disposing furniture can be done by taking the items to the tip in a trailer, hiring a skip bin or calling us to remove your items for you.

Wet floorboards

Wet floorboards need the water swiped off it immediately, as water soaks into the pours of the wood.  Therefore, sweeping the water outside and placing dry towels down to soak up the water is the first step. If the flood waters were too high and the floor boards are destroyed, you will have to get a professional in to help you rip up your floor boards and replace them.

If your floor boards only got a little wet, dry them with towels, place multiple fans pointing on the floor and open windows for air to circulate. Open curtains and blinds so the sun can also dry the floorboards.

Once the floorboards are damp or dry, disinfect the area.

Once disinfecting is completed, its time to dry the area again. This means setting up fans to blow on wet areas and ensuring air/wind is flowing through the house from open windows and doors.

At night, when you need to close up the house, use dehumidifiers and fans to continue the drying process while you sleep.

If you need information on flood support go to www.civildefence.govt.nz

The items you should not put into your recycling bin:

Plastic bags

Chip and cookie packets / Plastic Straws

Batteries

Gas bottles

Single use paper cups

Face masks and gloves

All fabrics/ Towels/ Clothes/ Curtains

Stuffed toys

Bricks

Glassware

Electrical items (Hose and wires)

Medical waste

Tyre

Paint cans

Mirror / light bulbs / window glass

Polystyrene

Food waste

Garden waste

These items either clog the machine, cause fires in the pick up trucks or can not be recylced.

What CAN go into your recycling bin:

(Please rinse items before you place them in your recycling bin)

Pizza boxes (without food inside)

Hard plastic food trays

Tins

Liquid paper board cartons

Plastic takeaway containers

Plastic cookie trays

Broken glass bottles

Glass bottles / glass jars

Plastic bottles/cartons

Cardboard

Paper / newspaper / magazines / Glossy advertising material

Egg cartons

Where can I take my soft plastics?

Some stores around Auckland have special soft plastic recycling bins that anyone can place their soft plastics into.

If you can’t find a soft recycling station near your home then please place them into your rubbish bin.

Where can I recycle my gas bottle and batteries?

Gas bottles can be taken to your local transfer station or community recycling centre

Wondering how to get ride of the other items that can’t go into your recycle bin?

Go to Auckland Council website or go here – HOW TO GET RID OF UNWANTED ITEMS

On September 19^th one person in a Christchurch isolation facility tested positive for Covid -19 and spend 14 days in isolation.

After the 14 days and testing negative twice, the person flew from Christchurch to Auckland on September the 11^th and infected one other person on the flight.

So how did this happen?

Through contact tracing, the ministry of health believes that the first person that tested negative twice before leaving isolation contracted the sickness at the end of their stay through touching a rubbish bin in the quarantine facility.

Dr Caroline McElnay, the director of public health states “While we cannot be certain, our hypothesis is that the virus may have been transmitted to a person … via the surface of a rubbish bin, which was used by another returnee who was likely infectious at the facility.”

The cc footage at the isolation facility has shown that the rubbish bin was the common source of contact between the two people before one of them left isolation.

An intense investigation found that no other person has been infected on the flight or by the two flight cases in the community.

While this case is unique and happened in isolation, reminders of hand hygiene is being emphasised more and more.

So how does this affect you?

While you may think no one touches your private rubbish bin when you place it on the curb, this may not be the case. Many people can walk pass and touch your rubbish bin without your knowledge.

Therefore, it is important to sanitize your inside and outside bins with disinfectant wipes or spray. On top of this, washing your hands after you touch your rubbish bin is important to prevent the spread of germs.

Likewise, avoid touching the surface of public waste bins when throwing away your rubbish when out and about.

Remember if everyone washes their hands, the spread of covis-19 will decrease significantly.

Source one

Source two

There is no doubt that Covid -19 slowed down and effected waste organizations and businesses, therefore, Eugenie Sage says the focus for this year’s funding from the waste minimisation fund is now falling on “upgrading waste systems so they are resilient for the future” and working with “10 to 20 projects of strategic importance to waste minimisation as New Zealand responds to Covid-19.”

The result of the proposal is said to bring about more jobs and reduce the large amount of waste going into landfills.

However, the waste minimisation fund retrieves its money from levy charges from landfills, therefore, if the government wants to increase the waste minimisation fund to reduce waste, reuse and recycle more efficiently, the landfill charges will increase for average kiwis.

This means residential rubbish bags and bin costs could increase by 33 cents per bag/bin, going from $2.50 a bag to $2.83 a bag.

Not only that, but the landfill charge would increase from $10 a tonne to $60 a tonne, which means simply taking your rubbish to the tip gets more and more expensive, resulting in the government waste minimisation fund making up to $250 million extra a year up from the already $220 million it already receives.

The definition of the waste minimisation fund is said to provide “funding for projects that promote or achieve waste minimisation” and “helps increase resource efficiency, reuse, recovery and recycling, and decrease waste to landfill.”

The fund money will be spilt, half of the money will go to the local councils to spend “in accordance with their waste management and minimisation plans” while the other half of the money will be managed by the ministry for the environment.

“The purpose of the act is to encourage waste minimisation and a decrease in waste disposal.” – Eugenie Sage.

The new proposal isn’t supported by everyone, the Taxpayers’ Union have said the new proposal is a “revenue grab that will hammer poorer taxpayers.”

While Louis Houlbrook also disapproved saying that it will have a harsh financial impact on bigger households in poorer areas.

However, unless the fund supports new recycling indicatives and finds a new way to recycle ALL recyclable materials locally, not internationally, then the higher taxes for the landfill won’t help reduce waste in the landfill or reduce waste period.

Resources:

Stuff

One News

Green

MFE

New Zealand council waste bins such as the 120-litre household rubbish bins and the 240 litre recycling bins have been in most cities around New Zealand for a long time. Although, there are some places in New Zealand where you don’t need to use a specific bin to put recycling in and many places do not have organic bins just yet.

Recently two city council teams are trying to improve household waste management by taking the opportunity to introduce new bins to homes.

Waiheke Island in Auckland are introducing new 240 litre recycling wheelie bins to all residence that pay a waste charge, that do not already have one. Previously, residences were allowed to store their recycling in wooden crates, plastic bags and other storage boxes to be collected during roadside waste collection. However, now the council is discarding the old method and only collecting and empty recycling bins. This will happen before June 30^th this year.

Residence are still allowed to put their household general rubbish in special brought rubbish bags for collection. However, these bags will be changed from a red to orange colour. Also, if residence would like a 120-litre bin for their rubbish, they are encouraged to request and change to a wheelie bin.

This change is in an effort to reduce plastic bag usage when storing recycling and to encourage recycle goods to be recycled and not end up in landfill. Reducing landfill waste by reusing goods is the first step to keeping unnecessary items out of landfill and being more environmentally conscience.

Waimate District in Canterbury are also in the process of making changes to their waste collection services. The council are looking into changing their rubbish bins from the general two bin system to a four-bin system.

Instead of just collecting the recycling bin and the rubbish bin, they are trying to put into place an organic, rubbish, recycling and glass bin collection system for all households that have council bins.

The final decision about the bin changes will happen on August 18^th and the new contract will be discussed on July, 1^st 2021.

This is great news for residence of Waimate District and Waiheke Island. Of course, for the rest of us that have recycling bins, we need to be more conscience of what we put into our recycling bins.

During lockdown, recycling habits have grown increasing worse, as households are throwing non-recyclables into their recycling bins.

Waste Manage Institute of New Zealand completed a report called “The truth about plastic recycling in Aotearoa New Zealand.” The report discusses kiwi’s recycling habits and how New Zealand as a whole, needs to improve our recycling.

One of the most shocking results from their study was “the average kiwi household uses 941 plastic containers or bottles per year (extrapolated, this suggests there is an estimated 1.76 billion containers per annum from all households). Of these, 41 per cent by item count could potentially be recycled, but instead end up in landfill.”

On top of this, kiwi households get confused about which plastics should be placed in the recycling bin, which results in the items ending up in landfill instead of being recycled.

This problem can only be solved if all households read the recycling chart and know what goes into the recycling bin and what does not.

Overall, New Zealand’s recycling method isn’t bad, it just needs to be improved. Kiwi households can help by learning which different recycling items need to be placed in the recycling bins and placing only recycling items in it. Likewise, city councils around New Zealand can help by making recycling bins available to all New Zealand regions no matter where they live, as they are starting to do so.

If you need any information about what goes into your recycling bin go to https://www.wasteminz.org.nzwp

If you live in Auckland, and have missed your council rubbish collection and need any rubbish removal service email us on our quote page here.

Hong Kong was the first to see the impact as used masks were found littering their beaches. While in Louisiana and other US states, gloves and wipes littered the streets and it has gotten so bad that people are posting photos on social media of the used sanitary products scattered on the street. People are growing increasingly concerned about the littering of the protective gear as it is a safety hazard and increasing the environmental problem, as all the protective gear is made of plastic and the litter will go down drains and end up in the ocean and be eaten by wild life causing them to choke and die.

USA and Hong Kong are not the only places that have been affected due to Covid-19. Rubbish collection drop off sites in Waterloo and Cambridge in Canada have been shut down and will finally be reopening on May 4^th. Whereas Bangkok has seen a 15% rise in plastic waste due to people spending more time at home and buying delivery services with plastic packaged fast-food due to Covid-19. Also rubbish collection services in Brussels, Belgium has been disrupted due to storage of staff because of the outbreak resulting in some waste not being collected.

So how did Covid-19 affect New Zealand’s waste? As kiwis, we were lucky that our rubbish, recycling and scrap bin collections were considered essential, so we haven’t had any problems with disposing of our usual household rubbish. However, Auckland Council announced on the 1^st of April that covid-19 had affected the process of disposing of paper and cardboard waste produced and disposed of by households. Auckland’s paper and cardboard waste will be dumped into landfills until further notice rather than being recycled. This is due to changes in the international trade and buying of processing paper recyclables. (Source)

As well as paper and cardboard being placed in landfill, the Auckland council inorganic collections are being postponed from the 26^th of March, and no bin removals, exchanges or minor repairs will be done until further notice.

Also, the Waitakere Refuse and Recycling Centre has decreased its hours to the public and is only accepting refuse and green waste.

Here’s where we can help! Our team can come pick up and clear any rubbish and garden waste that you have accumulated over the level 4 period. Whether it’s the inorganic collection, a single item, green waste or hazardous waste, we can dispose of it for you. Just send us an email or call us on 0800 386 763 for an estimated quote.

The clean out

Sometimes its hard giving away things that you don’t use but are attached too. To avoid the stress of cleaning out use the three-box system when looking through your stuff. It’s a simple system, just get three boxes and label them “YES, NO, MAYBE.” The YES box is for all the things that you are 100% sure you want to giveaway. Put items in the yes box that you are positive you don’t want anymore. The MAYBE box is for all the items you might want, but might not want either. Lastly, the NO box is for all the objects you can’t part with. As you look through your stuff, separate the items into the different boxes as you go. After this is done and you have looked through everything, go through the MAYBE box one more time and see if there is anything that can go in the YES box.  Then take the YES box to one of these many charity shops.

Check the condition

This is an important step because charity shops aren’t rubbish dumps, they are shops. So, as you look through your objects and clothes, check the condition of each item. Each item needs to be in good enough condition for other people to be able to use it and want it. Clothes, bedding, towel and other material-based things need to be checked for holes, stains, or tears. If they do have any of these and are in bad condition, throw these items away or better yet recycle and reuse them. Electronics need to be in working condition and safe to use, shoes cant have holes in them and large furniture need to be fully functional and in a good state. If you are unsure about the condition of an object ask a friend or family member to decide with you.

Where to donate:

Habitat for Humanity ReStore

Address: 7 Dora Street, Henderson, Auckland 0612

This charity store assists kiwi families with building, renting and then buying homes so that they can feel secure and have a sense of belonging in a community. This charity also helps when a natural disaster occurs and homes need to be rebuilt. Their most recent projects are taking place in Christchurch and Samoa.

Items they accept: New and gently used items are accepted daily at their stores from residents and businesses. Objects like furniture, clothing, toys, kitchenware, books, appliances, tools and general items. They also pick up your stuff and deliver.

Opening Hours: Monday to Friday 9am-5pm, Saturday 10am-3pm, Sunday Closed.

SPCA Op Shop

Address: 18 Catherine Street, Henderson, Auckland 0612

For all the animal lovers out there, when donating to the SPCA you support animal care. They care for sick, injured, abused and abandoned animals.

Items they accept: All items need to be in good, sellable condition, not damaged, broken or stained or torn. Items include: clothing, jewellery, kitchenware, furniture, linen, toys and bric-a-brac furniture and things for your pets. They do pick up big furniture.

Items they do not accept: pillows, mattresses, open toiletries, consumables, electrical goods, motorcycle and bike helmets.

Opening hours: Monday to Friday 9:30am-4:30pm, Saturday 9:30am-2:30pm, Sunday Closed.

St John Opportunity Shop

Address:  433 Great North Road, Henderson, Auckland 0610

St John’s supports local youth programmes and use the second hand store profits for purchasing new ambulances and health shuttles. They are a medical care ambulance service.

Items they accept: Pre-loved goods, general items.

Opening hours:  Monday to Friday 9am-4:30pm, Saturday 10am-2pm, Sunday Closed.

Salvation Army Family Store

Address: 3A Trading Place, Henderson, Auckland 0612

The Salvation Army helps fight poverty and social and spiritual distress by giving food, clothing and advice assistance to families and individuals.

Items they accept: clothing, furniture, household goods, toys and books.

Opening hours: Monday to Friday 9am-5pm, Saturday 9:30am-4pm, Sunday Closed.

CCF OP Shop 

Address: 17/19 Railside Avenue, Henderson, Auckland 0612

This store supports Community Christian Fellowship and their community programmes such as food banks, Christians Against Poverty Debt Centre, Community Kai, Reaching Out and other ministries.

Items they accept: To be confirmed.

Opening hours: Monday to Friday 9am-5pm, Saturday 9am-4pm, Sunday Closed.

The Hospice Shop

Address: 208 Swanson Road, Henderson, Auckland 0610

This store helps with health care and social care to people with a terminal or life-limiting illness.

Items they accept: General Items

Opening hours: Monday to Sunday 9am-5pm.

Red Cross Shop

Address: 435 Great North Road, Henderson, Auckland 0610

This store assists kiwis with hot meals, safe drives to hospitals and education programmes. They also help affected areas that need help from emergencies and conflict all over the world.

Items they accept: Clothing, furniture and homeware. They pick up and deliver to you.

Opening hours: Monday to Saturday 9am-5pm, Sunday 10am-4pm.

If you have any more questions about a specific second hand store, call the store during their working hours. You can find their numbers on their websites.

If you have rubbish or items that are in bad condition and need to be removed, call us on 0800 DUMP ME and we can give you a free quote today.