Council rubbish service plans on track

Auckland Council’s plans to move to a rates-funded kerbside rubbish collection across the city remain on course, with September next year the target date for its introduction in Rodney.

At present, council offers only recycling services in the area, and food scraps collection in urban centres. Households rely on private operators for regular rubbish collection, purchasing orange bags at supermarkets or dairies.

But all of Auckland is moving to a region-wide, rates-funded rubbish collection service, and that service will be extended to Rodney from September next year.

Under the new system, rates accounts will include an annual targeted rate for waste collections. A council spokesperson says that the amount charged will depend on the size of wheelie bin requested by each household – 80-litre, 120-litre or 240-litre. This means households producing less landfill-bound rubbish will pay less than those churning out more.

The bins themselves, ordered via the website aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/binrequests, will be provided at no charge.

Rodney residents will have the option of the bin service or a council provided, rates-funded rubbish bags service (with equivalent capacity, in litres, as the chosen bin size).

“The exact logistics of how this option is rolled out are yet to be determined,” the spokesperson said.

“Rest assured that closer to the time, there will be extensive communications to advise residents of the changes and what they mean for different properties.”

In Rodney, Northland Waste provides weekly collections of its orange bags and 80, 120 and 240-litre wheelie bins. Costs range from $199 a year (weekly equivalent $3.83) for 80 litre bins to $467 a year (weekly equivalent $8.98) for 240 litre bins.

April Peter, the company’s marketing, advocacy and strategy general manager, gave an assurance that it would continue to provide its rubbish service in the district until the council changes take effect – and beyond that, if it remained viable.

Northland Waste would love to continue to provide services to residents after the council changes take place, she said. It does see the potential to continue to service residential wheelie bin customers, as the council service may not suit everyone’s needs, with regard to bin size or frequency of collection, for example.

“However, like most businesses, it can be challenging to predict the exact market impacts of the changes,” Peter said. “We are committed to continuing the service if it remains viable and in demand.

We have had a very proud history of servicing the former Rodney district for over 10 years and are committed to continuing our services wherever we can.”

Northland Waste’s green waste service, skips, jumbo bags, large bins and commercial bins services will be unaffected by the council changes, and will continue as usual.

The nationwide rubbish standardisation process aims to ensure that at least 50 per cent of all household waste goes into recycling and food scrap bins, rather than ending up in landfills, by 2030.

Changes to recyclables are also taking place. Allowable materials for household recycling bins are now standardised across the country, limited to glass bottles and jars, paper and cardboard, plastic bottles, trays and containers marked 1, 2 and 5 and aluminium and steel tins and cans.