Paper Meter Receipts Better for the Environment

Dunedin, 17 April 2014 – After more than two years of research and trials, motorists can now get biodegradable receipts from most Dunedin pay and display meters.

The Dunedin City Council is the only local authority in Australasia to use 100% paper receipts for its pay and display machines.

Cr Jinty MacTavish says the initiative has two major benefits – plastic-coated receipts will no longer litter beaches and pollute the marine environment, and because they are now made entirely of paper, they can be recycled in residents’ yellow kerbside bins.

Cr MacTavish, who chairs the DCC’s Community and Environment Committee, says three years ago residents involved in coastal clean-ups raised concerns through the Annual Plan process about the number of plastic-coated receipts they were finding on beaches, especially around the Otago Harbour. These receipts, because of their plastic content, were not biodegradable.

In response, the DCC trialled a paperless parking system and investigated receipts made of a non-paper product, but neither alternative worked satisfactorily.

Citifleet/Citipark Team Leader Brent Bachop says in October last year staff decided to trial receipts made of 100% paper. Advice from meter manufacturers had indicated the paper needed a plastic coating to work properly in the machines, but the trial showed the paper-only receipts did work.

Following the successful trial, the 100% paper receipts are being phased in across the DCC’s approximately 400 pay and display meters as the rolls of the plastic-coated paper receipts in the machines run out.

“They are now being used in 90% of meters around the city,” Mr Bachop says.

There are no extra costs to using the 100% paper receipts, which are sourced from the same Auckland supplier.

Cr MacTavish says, “This great result shows how rewarding it can be – and how simple it can be! – to continually refine our practices in line with our vision of becoming a zero waste city.”

ENDS

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