Ratepayers are helping the Ashburton Rotary Club dispose of 16 tonnes of unwanted material after Bookarama 2025, to the tune of $3500.
District councillors voted at their meeting last week to contribute the discretionary grant to the club.
Councillors heard the growing popularity of Bookarama had seen donations, and therefore leftovers, of books and magazines increase.
At the same time, there had been a lower demand for recycled paper.
Last year it cost the club $7000 for the unwanted material to go to Kate Valley landfill.
However, this year the district council worked with the club to find an improved solution, and they will instead be diverted into a recycling company in Christchurch.
Chief executive Hamish Riach said the club was faced with households having a good clean out.
And those disposing of the items into their yellow kerbside bins risked contaminating loads of recycling if they had materials such as plastic in them.
So Bookarama was ‘‘acting in a sense as a quasi waste service for books’’.
Councillor Lynette Lovett voted against the motion.
She feared setting a precedent as other charities such as op shops had to dispose of clothing they did not want.
‘‘This is opening the floodgate for other organisations to come in,’’ Lovett said.
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