Bins wheeled into Sounds

Two boat-access only areas in the Marlborough Sounds might be the first to get wheelie bins in the region.

But it’s not quite what you think.

The big bin will be for everyone in the community, and will be emptied by Marlborough Tour Company’s Cougar Line.

The two bins will be placed in the Sounds on a one-year trial, in a partnership between Cougar Line and the Marlborough District Council. Their exact location was still being finalised.

Residents in those communities will then be able to place their basic household rubbish in the bin at no cost. The bin would not be big enough for your spring-clean type of waste though.

Cougar Line freight manager Matt Pigou said they were already bringing in rubbish from the Sounds, but big bags of rubbish did not help their customer experience.

‘‘Rubbish is a bit of an issue, so we take rubbish back on all of our boats, but as the volume has started to increase, and we’re getting a lot of passengers on our boats, there’s a need to have a look at some other options,’’ Pigou said.

‘‘Our residents out there have water-access only, and a lot of them don’t have their own boats.

So they’re really reliant on our company, and our boats, so we’re trying to help them out as much as possible.’’

But with Cougar Line adding a new freight boat to their fleet about a year ago, they had the option of transporting larger items – such as construction equipment.

‘‘So by partnering with council, we’ve been able to come up with a bit of scheme,’’ he said.

‘‘We’re not actually making any money off it, we’re just