Recycling has been going well in both Tauranga and Western Bay. Photo / George Novak
More than 600 tonnes of rubbish, recycling, food and glass have been collected from homes in the Western Bay and Tauranga council areas in the second week of the new kerbside collection.
The new collection service started on July 1 for Tauranga City Council and Western Bay of Plenty District Council residents.
Between July 8 and 14, the city council collected 72 tonnes of food, 79 tonnes of glass, 140 tonnes of recycling and 239 tonnes of rubbish.
In the Western Bay, the council collected six tonnes of food, 19 tonnes of glass, 28 tonnes of recycling and 42 tonnes of rubbish in week two of the service.
Tauranga City Council sustainability and waste manager Sam Fellows said the teams on the road had been seeing "very low levels of recycling contamination" and the news service had been going "very well".
"This is great news - washing items, removing small lids and only putting the correct items in the recycling bin means we can divert as much as possible from landfill."
The city council said the most common complaints were reports of missed collections, how to find information about collection days and queries about pay-as-you-throw tags.
Fellows said residents should ensure bins were out by 7am on collection day and if they missed the collection, they should check their bins for contamination tags. If none are found, they should contact the council to organise recollection and leave their bins kerbside.
"We understand that missed collections can be frustrating for our residents, however, we ask residents to allow two working days for recollections."
Western Bay's deputy chief executive and group manager of infrastructure services Gary Allis said the team had not received any official reporting on recycling contamination yet.
"We know that people want to recycle as much as they can, which is why we have created an online search function for recycling. This was designed to help people understand what can and can't be recycled."
Allis said the council was pleased with how the service had rolled out so far.
"We have managed to implement a kerbside rubbish and recycling collection for over 17,400 properties - a first for the Western Bay District."
This included glass, which had not had kerbside collection since 2017, and the food scraps service, which was new to more than 12,000 households, he said.
The council had recorded 518 follow-up inquiries between July 1 and 14.
"Missed bin pick-up has been a theme, and the reasons have varied from a misunderstanding of what bins should go out on what week, putting bins out too late, to our contractors missing collections.
"We have also received a few compliments from people who are happy to have a kerbside recycling collection, and pleased that they only pay for the waste they generate."
In a letter to the editor, one reader said she had been working hard to sort out her rubbish and had been freezing her food scraps until collection day. But she felt there had been a "complete lack of service from the rubbish collectors" when it came to spillages.
"I am not prepared to pick up food scraps from the road or path again.
"I witnessed this on another street where I watched them collecting and not bothering to pick up any spillage they make.
"Multiply this every rubbish day in the summer and who will pick up the spills? ... It will become very unhygienic."
Fellows thanked residents using their food scraps bin correctly, as food scraps were the city's biggest waste problem.
"Residents can report food scraps spills to the council by phone or email, and this will be investigated and cleared within 24 hours. Residents are encouraged to always lock their food scraps bins by lifting the handle up or forward - this will help prevent spillage."
A Tauriko resident with mobility problems said she did not want to apply for assisted service because she did not want her medical details made available to the council.
Yvonne Lowe, 68, had a mobility pass which she thought should suffice for qualification for the assisted service.
"You can't get one of those without a doctor's signature."
Currently, she had to take her bins to another road, more than 500m away, where they could be collected.
"It's not an easy walk."
Tauranga City Council sustainability and waste manager Sam Fellows said the council was not allowed to take people's medical data so could not accept a mobility pass.
"We collect no medical information – only who your doctor is and we would only call them to potentially confirm they still agree that you're eligible for the assisted service," Fellows said.
Fellows said the form asked for a medical professional's opinion on whether the person was unable to take the bins to the kerbside.
"We just accept that as face value."
Fellows said the council had received 334 assisted service applications to date, with 271 approved.
There were 42 outstanding applications, most of which had been temporarily approved until the council had carried out property visits to confirm.
The council have had 18 applications withdrawn.
"Some found the bins were easier to move than they originally thought and others were provided with a more comprehensive service than originally planned, for example, they found out they didn't need to take their bins to a different location on collection day."
The council had declined three applications on the basis a member of the household was physically able to take the bins to the kerbside or they were part of a retirement village where there was existing support, Fellows said.
The number of applications was in line with the resourcing originally planned, he said.
Those who had applied for the service before July 7 had now been approved permanently or temporarily, applications submitted after July 7 should allow up to three weeks for processing.
Assisted service applications could take a while to reach the council, especially if sent by post.
Fellows said the approval process would take time as the council needed to visit each property to discuss the resident's needs and assess whether the council could safely provide the service.
"We appreciate that some members of our community are waiting for the assisted service and our team are doing their best to process applications as quickly as possible," he said.
The council encouraged those waiting for the service to approach a neighbour, carer or family member for short-term support.
Western Bay had received 34 applications for assisted services to date, with 22 confirmed and 12 being processed. None had been declined.
"We work with each applicant to arrange a time to meet them at their home and find a suitable place to collect the bins from. We expect the process to be completed within two2 weeks," Allis said.
Western Bay of Plenty District could have fewer councillors to vote for next election.