What does this mean?

Well, Auckland council is giving each household a new 23 litre bin for all their food scraps to go in which will then be collected each week.

Food items such as bread, egg shells, meat bones, fish bones, rice, pasta, coffee grounds, fruit skins, veggies and more can be thrown into your new food scrap bin. However, other rubbish items are not allowed.

See what you can and can’t throw in your food scrap bin here – Link

The system works by placing all your food scraps in the little kitchen caddy they provide, then once its full, you tie up the bag and place it into your 23-litre bin. Then you will need to place your scrap bin next to your council rubbish bin and they will come collect it for you. Leaving you with an empty bin to start again.

Why are they collecting our food scraps?

Auckland landfills are fill of about 100 thousand tonnes of old food scraps each year. These food scrap bins will hopefully decrease the food waste in landfills and instead go to providing energy and creating liquid fertilizer for the growth of more food for Auckland.

When do you receive your food scrap bin?

The bins are being introduced gradually to each Auckland area. Waitakere area is first to get the bins during March to April 2023 and North shore will be next, from April to June.

Then in order; Manukau, Auckland Central, Rodney and Franklin.

Click here to find your date.

If you have any questions about food scraps bin call 09 301 0101

Sources: Auckland Council, Stuff

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

It is reported that New Zealand only recycles 1/3 of the waste that is placed in council bin pickups and inorganic waste collections. Resulting in around 76% of material being send to landfill.

These statics show that New Zealand has a low recycling rate and the Ministry for the Environment is looking to change that.

In short form these are the three Proposals:

These include:

• A container return scheme that encourages people to return their empty beverage containers for recycling.
• Improvements to household kerbside recycling.
• Separation of food scraps from general waste for all businesses

All three proposals look promising to reduce waste and increase recycling of materials across New Zealand.

For more information and the full proposals go to https://environment.govt.nz/news/transforming-recycling/

Have your say on the proposals on their website here by 11.59pm on Sunday 22 of May 2022.

Source: https://environment.govt.nz/news/transforming-recycling/

If you are like most people in Auckland, you will be heading back to work and may not have time to remove and dispose of your used Christmas tree.

No need to worry, we have you covered, our guys can come, lift and load your dead christmas tree into our truck and take it away for you!

Get a quote:

Call us on 0800 386 763 or email us a photo of your Christmas tree and we will get back to you with an estimate quote. Please let us know the height of your tree so we can quote you more accurately.

Book a pick up:

Once you have accepted the estimate quote, let our team know you would like to book in. From there, they will book you in on the next available day.

Prepare for your pick up:

If you won’t be home during pick up, leave the tree outside near your front door where our team can easily access it. If you will be home, you won’t need to complete this step.

All trees need the tinsel, lights, ornaments, stands and decorations removed from the tree BEFORE pick up. If you would like the decoration removed as well, place them in a box next to the tree and let our staff know.

If you have any other rubbish or items that need to be removed, let our team know, as this is possible.

What happens to the old trees?

Once we have removed your tree, the trees will be mulched and used in gardens across Auckland.

Leaving your old Christmas tree in your house can cause dust build up and take up space. Contact us now for tree removal.

Can other rubbish be removed at the same time?

Yes, if you have other rubbish that needs to be removed at the same time, let our team know and they will quote you according to how much rubbish you need removed.

Finding a suitable, affordable home can be hard in New Zealand. On top of this, finding a rental home with the necessary appliances is also challenging. That\’s why donating dishwashers and cooktops to an organization that helps kiwi\’s in need of a home is wonderful. They will install these appliances into their affordable homes or donate these to families in need.

Different Kiwi housing organizations help kiwi\’s find affordable rental homes all over Auckland.

That’s why we were thrilled to hear that we were dropping the 6 dishwashers and 6 stoves to be used in their homing program.

With the help of one of their great staff, we were able to unload all the stoves and dishwashers safely.

We are so happy to have been part of the delivery and drop off of this whiteware and love working with other companies and organizations to help give back to our community.

If you would like to help in anyway please go to our \”How can you help\”page.

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

Kiwi Harvest works with a wide range of food businesses such as supermarkets, cafes, restaurants and hotels, to collect their extra good food that would have otherwise been sent to landfill, and kiwi harvest distributes it to over 242 charities across Auckland.

Kiwi Harvest has saved over 4811806 kilos of good food from going into landfill, all while delivering over 13748017 meals to people in need.

There mission is to prevent good food from going to waste and to help those in need throughout the community.

Yesterday, I got to see behind the scenes of the business and their passion for the job, when I dropped off the food donations from our staff and customers, to their warehouse.

When I arrived, I was met with a warm welcome by two team members, of which, one of them I had been corresponding with over email. They helped me unpack the food donations from the car and with social distancing and masks in place, they showed me the warehouse where they sorted and stored all the donated food.

We talked about the different businesses that donate food to them and what type of food they need that they are lacking in.

They informed me that basic food like flour, spaghetti and food cans were always needed and welcomed.

Kiwi Harvest were thrilled to receive our four bags of food and cans, and we are very happy that the food went to such a caring, passionate organization that makes a great difference in our community every day.

If you would like to donate some food cans to our food can drive during your pickup, let one of our friendly customer service team know over the phone during your quote.

If you would like to know more about Kiwi Harvest go to their website: https://kiwiharvest.org.nz/