News Wastebusters will close the doors of its Alexandra operation at the end of June has left Central Otago locals reeling.
On Wednesday, the social enterprise announced its Boundary Rd-based reuse shop and recycling services were no longer commercially viable and would cease to operate on June 30.
Wastebusters was stopping all of its recycling services in Alexandra, Cromwell and surrounding rural communities, including to business customers.
Its Wanaka operation was not affected.
Self-confessed Wastebusters "frequent flyer" Anita McLaren said she was "absolutely gutted" by the news.
"I couldn’t believe it, it’s a real shock."
She was concerned about the staff and members of the community who relied on the reuse shop for low-cost, quality items.
"What’s going to happen now? What are the staff going to do?"
Claire Scherp, of Alexandra, echoed those sentiments and said news of the closure left many questions.
"Everybody is feeling the pinch with the cost of living, so what happens now?
"I just don’t think this is ideal for our community."
She was concerned how the closure would impact on recycling services in the district; the kerbside waste collection red bins were set to reduce in size in July and there were limited options for taking larger items.
"I like the idea of reusing what we’ve already got ... we’re quite a throwaway society," she said.
"We don’t have the space [in landfill] because if we carry on the trajectory we’re on with waste ... where do we put it?"
Current "volatile" commodity markets and intense competition in recycling markets meant the organisation could not "hang on any longer in Alexandra", Mr Pfeiffer said.
"As a social enterprise, we need to ensure that we are financially viable for our people, our place and our impact, so we can continue to work for zero waste into the future. It wouldn’t be responsible of us to commit to operating a loss-making site into the future."
The decision to withdraw from Alexandra was only made in the past three or four weeks and was not easy, he said.
Plans for winding down were "still forming", but looking after staff was a top priority.
Plans would also be made for the Wastebusters’ cats Buster and Sid, who were "well-loved icons" in the community.
CODC infrastructure manager Quinton Penniall said the news came as a surprise to the council and he was interested in talking to community groups who might want to re-establish the reuse shop, as it was a "valuable and loved" community resource.
