After the first year ratepayers can select different sized bins. Photo / George Novak
A local waste collection company says it will have to lay off about two dozen workers and dump up to 9000 wheelie bins into landfill because of a new council kerbside service.
Tauranga rates will also go up a median 7 per cent next year to pay for the new council-run kerbside rubbish and recycling collection service.
But Tauranga City Council says most people will save money, overall, and the service is cheaper than what many are paying for private collections they will no longer need.
The council announced yesterday it had signed an eight-plus two-year contract with foreign-owned EnviroWaste to provide the service from July 1 next year.
Each city household will be issued with three new bins in addition to their existing 45L glass crate: a 140l rubbish bin, 240l recycling bin and 23l food scraps bin.
Rubbish, recycling and glass will be collected fortnightly and food scraps weekly, with a goal of halving the amount of household waste sent to landfill by 2028.
Additional bin sizes will be available after the first year and there is an optional monthly garden waste bin at a cost of $60 in the first year.
The core service will initially cost each household $230 a year, which includes the $37 already charged through rates for glass collection.
The council's market research found the average household using a private collection was spending $515 a year.
Council infrastructure general manager Nic Johansson said the council was introducing bin size options in the second year to simplify the initial roll-out.
Smaller bins would cost less, providing an incentive for people to reduce their waste.
The council was also future-proofing the system for potential future pay-by-weight charging system, with RFID tags to be fitted into the new bins.
The council has budgeted $8.1 million to buy the new bins, saying it could not purchase bins already in circulation because it would be too expensive to retrofit the tags and it could not know what condition the second-hand bins would be in.
But one local private collection operator, John Cruickshank of Kleana Bins, said - with some irony - he was looking at having to throw up to 9000 wheelie bins into landfill when the council takes over.
"There's not much of a market for second-hand wheelie bins."
Cruickshank, who has run Kleana Bins in Tauranga for 20 years and has around 9000 customers, slammed the decision to give the contract to a big multinational company.
In his view, giving the contract to EnviroWaste - owned by a Hong-Kong based company - was "pretty disappointing".
"I think it's pretty strange that they have gone ahead with signing a contract with a foreign-owned company at a time when everyone is encouraging us to support local businesses."
He said he would likely need let go of 12-13 staff and downsize his fleet of 11 trucks to two or three, mostly servicing rural Western Bay residents not covered by their council's new kerbside service - also awarded to EnviroWaste.
He said some of his staff were already looking for other work and he was worried about keeping his business going until the changeover.
Small operators like himself were effectively blocked from bidding for the council's business, he said, because the single contract was so big.
We know that some companies currently operating kerbside waste collections will be adversely affected by this decision, and that's a matter of regret in these difficult times.
The council said the procurement process was competitive and open to all companies that provided waste services.
"All local suppliers were given an equal opportunity to bid for contracts."
Government rules meant the council could not treat foreign-owned suppliers less favourably than Kiwi suppliers.
"Any procurement decisions must be based on the best public value over the whole-of-life of the goods, services or works.
"While EnviroWaste is not a NZ-owned company, they employ over 900 people nationwide and will be looking for skilled employees who are currently employed in Tauranga's waste services to be part of their team."
Tauranga mayor Tenby Powell acknowledged the impact on other private companies of the change.
"We know that some companies currently operating kerbside waste collections will be adversely affected by this decision, and that's a matter of regret in these difficult times."
"However, this is one of those occasions where we have to make a difficult decision to get the best outcome for our community and the environment."
Other critics have also expressed concerns about the new service.
Papamoa Residents and Ratepayers Association chairman Philip Brown said he thought the council had "missed the boat" and he had big concerns about how much ratepayers could be paying in the years to come.
"All the costs only show the first year, that's the scary thing."
In his view, one company would "monopolise" the system and he feared ratepayers would be "at their mercy" when it came to price increases.
The council spending $8 million to implement the new plan was an "enormous waste of money".
Sustainable Business Network Bay of Plenty manager Glen Crowther said $230 "seems exceptionally good value", with $193 covering rubbish, recycling and food scraps.
"That confirms ... the council taking back control of the kerbside waste system will offer better value overall and reduce the number of trucks going up and down our streets every rubbish day."
A 100 per cent rates-funded model, however, "goes against the polluter pays principle and penalises households that currently spent much less than $193 per year on waste".
He said a user-pays model for rubbish would have saved more waste from landfill.
Envirohub Bay of Plenty chairwoman Mary Dillon, a former city councillor, said the new service was an "essential" step in the right direction but also wished there was a user pays option for rubbish.
She had no problem with a council-run service but said there needed to be a reward for people like herself that had limited waste.
"If there is an incentive for that I think more and more people will start thinking about the waste we don't need."
"It was essential that the council took back control of the waste. Until it did that we were going to get nowhere in trying to get people to reduce their waste and think about it."
The Western Bay of Plenty District Council has also contracted EnviroWaste for its new kerbside collection service, which will see rubbish charged by the throw rather than through rates for most residents.
Other local operators including Bin Boys, JJ Richards and Waste Management have also been contacted for comment.
- Additional reporting Leah Tebbutt, Caroline Fleming
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