Rubbish in, gold out

The Visy Mountain - For action: Go to www.waihekedoesitbetter.org.nz from Scott Ewing on Vimeo

It's a rare occasion when many sections and factions on Waiheke band together on an issue that affects everybody's quality of life on the island and, frankly, gives everybody a chance to express the very reason why they want to live on Waiheke. That reason is a sort of "green" and "sustainable" living, involving easy choices with the patina of "doing something right for the world" (and which costs you nothing personally, plus provides local employment). That's the context of the rubbish recycling issue and saw an assortment of greenies and suits march up Queen Street to the Council offices today where the Island overlords at the Auckland City Council will be deciding whether to award the rubbish collecting contract to an Australian multinational or keep it as it is with a local island recycling company.
The choice for islanders is an easy one, but sticks in the craw of the all-in-one city crowd at the Council, which prefers to privatise everything.
The outcome so far (13 June):

Auckland City Councils City Development Committee today disregarded and ignored the Waiheke community when considering a ten-year waste services contract. Citizens and Ratepayers (C&R) councillors voted to disqualify incumbent tenderer Clean Stream Waiheke Ltd and to recommend that tomorrows extraordinary Auckland City Council meeting grant Transpacific Industries Group Ltd a $22 million contract.

If the Council awards the 10 year contract to TPI, a future appeal to the Auckland Super City Transition Agency to cancel such a long running and expensive contract is the only course left.