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 a $3500 discretionary grant to the club.
Councillors heard the growing popularity of Bookarama had seen donations and therefore the number of leftover books and magazines increase.
At the same time, there has been a lower demand for recycled paper.
Last year it cost the club $7000 to take the unwanted material to the Kate Valley landfill.
District council chief executive Hamish Riach said the club was faced with the leftovers from 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’’.
District councillor Lynette Lovett voted against the motion.
She feared setting a precedent for other charities, such as op shops, which may need to dispose of clothing they do not want.
‘‘This is opening the floodgate for other organisations to come in,’’ Lovett said.
