Brightwater cul-de-sac now running three recycling regimes, one per council letter
Nobody on the street is wrong, according to Tasman District Council, which is the problem.
A Brightwater cul-de-sac is running three recycling systems at once. Tasman District Council sent every house three letters in a fortnight, and no two agree on the day, the bin or what to do with glass.
The first letter said Wednesday, yellow bin, no glass. The second said Thursday, glass in the crate, and called the yellow bin "the wheelie" throughout. The third was addressed to "The Occupier, Nelson", named no day at all, and had the council logo printed upside down on the back. The street has sorted itself out. Odd numbers do Wednesday. Evens do Thursday. The Pattersons at number 14 have gone with the third letter because it had the nicest font.
Raewyn Fahey, 58, who has lived on the odd side since the Rutherford memorial was still a bit of a novelty, said she'd just done what she was told. "First one said Wednesday, so we did Wednesday, and the truck came, so that was that. Then Sharon over the road got the Thursday one and her truck came too. So now there's two trucks. Or the same truck. Hard to say, they're all green. My son-in-law reckons it's a piss-take, but he reckons everything's a piss-take, he said that about the sandwich."
Relations between Wednesday and Thursday have cooled. The Wednesday side reckons the Thursday side "went with the second letter to be difficult". The Thursday side points out their crate gets emptied and the Wednesday one is "just a crate with glass in it". The Pattersons report three pickups this month at no fixed time. "We put it out when it feels right," said Moana Patterson, 44. "Haven't been told we're wrong. Well. We've been told three things. None of them was that."
A Tasman District Council spokesperson said all three letters were "correct at the time of posting" and residents should "follow the most recent one". Asked which that was, the spokesperson conceded the three had gone out in the same batch. The letter addressed to Nelson was "a joint services matter". Nelson City Council, asked why it had written to a street fifteen kilometres outside its boundary, said it was "pretty focused on the waterfront at the moment" and hung up.
A fourth letter arrived on Friday. It was blank. The odd side are treating it as confirmation.
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Reader Letters
Garry (Halswell)
Back in my day, we only needed one letter to tell us what to do, and everyone followed it without any fuss. These days, it's all confusion and chaos.
Mike_NZ
Could be worse, at least they're not knocking on doors asking us to put the bins out.
★ JoannePetone
Honestly, this is exactly why I double-check everything the council sends. It's like dealing with teenagers, can't trust anything at face value.
★ BarryBishopdale
The council's a joke. Next, they'll send postcards to Australia telling them our recycling schedule!
Sandra McKenzie
As usual, Barry, you've got something to say about nothing. It's just recycling, relax.
★ Trev_Hornby
Three letters for one street? Typical bloody council wasting paper and our rates.
tired_in_riccarton
Mate, the article said each letter called for a different recycling regime, so no wonder the neighbours are a bit peaked.
couchgremlin
Lol.
★ Margaret_F
Gerald would have never stood for this kind of nonsense. Back in the '80s, we didn't need all this faffing about—one set of instructions and everyone was happy.
★ Margaret_F
The youth today are too busy on their devices to even notice how rooted up this has become. People need to learn independence.
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