16 March, 2017

Auckland Council partners with Neighbourly to help residents swap unwanted treasures

Auckland Council and community social website Neighbourly have worked together to create a dedicated space that enables Aucklanders to offer their unwanted items to other people in their neighbourhood.

The newly created section is a boost to Auckland Council’s inorganic collection service.

Rather than store items for an annual collection, Auckland Council encourages residents to sell or donate their unwanted reusable items any time of the year.

Cllr Penny Hulse, Chair of the Environment and Community Committee, says she is delighted that the Neighbourly platform is fostering closer relationships within communities.

“Communities are very important to Auckland Council and it’s at a street - neighbourhood level where communities can have the greatest influence on creating a sense of place.

“The creation of a dedicated space for neighbours to share their unwanted treasures – those bikes that your children have outgrown, the bbq table that the new family down the street could use – helps connect people with others who live in their street,” she says.

“Then, the inorganics collection can be used to take away the broken furniture and items that can’t be reused by others.”

Casey Eden, Neighbourly.co.nz Managing Director and co-founder, says the Free Stuff category has always been one of the most popular on Neighbourly.

“We established in the early days of Neighbourly that one neighbour’s trash is another’s treasure,” he says’.

“It’s been a real privilege to work with Auckland Council to help raise the profile of the importance of finding new homes for our unwanted bits and pieces – and just recycling in general.”

He adds that after only a couple of weeks of promotion on the site there has already been an increase in items being given away.

Neighbourly has also developed an inorganics widget that will notify members by postcode of upcoming collections in their area. The intention of this is to encourage residents to use the online tool to book their inorganic collection.

About Neighbourly

· Neighbourly is a New Zealand owned company founded by a team of individuals passionate about building stronger, safer and more vibrant communities.

· Neighbourly's mission is to create an easy way for neighbours to talk and share online, creating more real world connections and ultimately growing stronger, safer and friendlier communities.

· Neighbourly has more than 200,000 members in Auckland.

Auckland Council Inorganic collection

· Between October 2015 and November 2016 around 80,000 Auckland properties received an inorganic collection.

ENDS

© Scoop Media