Unused face masks will end up costing the Ministry of Education thousands of dollars.

The Ministry's spending $26,000 a month on storage fees for millions of masks likely to go unused, now that mandates have ended.

The storage cost is so high, the Ministry is now considering spending $120,000 to destroy them.

The Secondary Principals Association's Vaughn Couillaut says he can understand the Ministry's thinking when they stocked up.

"Plentiful supply was delivered to schools, we could get them whenever we wanted. We still can now, if we needed to order some. They certainly bought a ton, not knowing when those mandates would finish."

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Unused face masks will end up costing the Ministry of Education thousands of dollars.
The Ministry's spending $26,000 a month on storage fees for millions of masks likely to go unused, now that mandates have ended.
The storage cost is so high, the Ministry is now considering spending $120,000 to destroy them.
The Secondary Principals Association's Vaughn Couillaut says he can understand the Ministry's thinking when they stocked up.
"Plentiful supply was delivered to schools, we could get them whenever we wanted. We still can now, if we needed to order some. They certainly bought a ton, not knowing when those mandates would finish."
LISTEN ABOVE

With a straight down the middle approach, Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive on Newstalk ZB delivers the very latest news and views to New Zealanders as they wrap up their day.