Kerbside wheelie bin costs irk some Tauranga residents

A significant increase in the cost of kerbside rubbish collection has people jumping ship. Photo / File

A hike in kerbside waste collection costs has some Tauranga residents seeing red, with one giving up on recycling.

But collection companies say the prices have jumped due to external factors such as the recent changes to the Emissions Trading Scheme.

Nikki Signal, a Pāpāmoa solo mother, said she was shocked to receive a $135.23 bill from Waste Management Tauranga for her 120L recycling bin.

The price was up 38 per cent on last year's bill of $85.77.

Combined with a weekly council rubbish bag and other trips to the transfer station, she was faced with paying $324.23 a year.

"I was seeing red ... As a full-time working single parent, I don't earn enough or have the ability to go to the recycling centre each week myself."

She switched to a 240L general waste wheelie bin from JJ Richards for $250.53 a year.

"The only downside is I'm no longer recycling, but I was being priced out the market."

Pāpāmoa working mother Nikki Signal has switched firms after a significant increase in the cost of her household kerbside wheel bin. Photo / Sandra Conchie

Anne Darley said she had also decided to cancel her Waste Management wheelie bin after 16 years due to the price hike.

The situation left her feeling "brassed off".

"We're superannuitants and already have to pay for our glass to be collected and put out one of the council rubbish bags most weeks. We have decided to have a rethink."

Marsha Cadman, Waste Management Limited's general manager of customer and sustainability, said recent changes to the Emissions Trading Scheme and the price for carbon units had significantly increased waste disposal charges.

Cadman said China's restrictions on the importation of a wide variety of recyclables also had a significant impact because of reduced commodity prices for recycled materials.

John Cruickshank, one of the owners of Kleana Bins Tauranga, said there was no dispute those factors were behind the significant jump in the costs of waste disposal.

Waste disposal costs had jumped by 10 per cent in the last year and the situation was only likely to get worse, with commodity prices for recyclables falling, he said.

"We also expect to have to pass on a modest price increase to our customers this year."

Maggie Edwards, one of Consumer New Zealand's consumer advisors, said like any other profit-driven business these companies charged what the market could bear.

Edwards said it paid to shop around and swap to locally-owned providers and people should consider reducing the amount of waste they produced.