Dawn Grant, 90. Greerton residents are not happy about the new council rubbish bins. Photo / George Novak.
A 90-year-old Greerton resident says she will keep paying for her private bin collection even after the council's new ratepayer-funded kerbside rubbish collection begins.
The rollout of the new bin fleet - three large bins and a small one for food scraps - is under way ahead of the July 1 start of the new service, but some residents are less than impressed with the new arrivals.
Tauranga City Council, however, says there are options to meet some of their concerns.
Greerton resident Dawn Grant said she had decided to keep paying for the private service even though she will also be charged for the council service through her rates.
Grant said she cannot wheel her bins out for the kerbside collection so her current collector, Kleana Bins, collects it from her house.
"I'm going to keep using my Kleana bin. I can put everything in it," she said.
Kemble Cadwallader, 26, also of Greerton, said he would also continue to use a private operator, JJ Richards, because of its larger bins.
The council rubbish bins hold 140 litres while the JJ Richards bin he used held 240l.
"These [council bins] are a bit small. Our original one was much bigger and we definitely use the whole thing," he said.
Another resident, who did not want to be named, said she grew a lot of her own produce and recycled and, in her view, the new system penalised people who were already conscious of their household waste.
"By the time I compost, burn, repurpose or don't buy in the first place, practically nothing goes off this property," she said.
"I might put one black bag out once every three months. No green or food waste goes, so why should I have to pay for these bins when I don't use them?"
She also expressed sympathy for the private business operators affected by the new service.
"All those poor people who are now out of business. Fleets of specialised trucks – what are they going to do with them now? There are all their existing bins."
Philip Brown, chairman of the Papamoa Residents and Ratepayers Association, was hoping for a pay as you throw option.
"According to the council's data itself, 22-25 per cent of people will be paying more than they currently pay," he said.
"The way they could've got around that was to have a pay as you throw rubbish option, which is what we asked for."
Tauranga City Council sustainability and waste manager Sam Fellows said a free assistance service was available to anyone unable to take their bins to the kerbside due to a physical disability or ailment.
He encouraged anyone in that situation to contact the council to see if they qualified for the service.
Fellows appreciated the changes would not be welcomed by those who already recycled and composted and produced less rubbish for landfill.
However, he hoped they would understand the new service was a more sustainable solution for everyone.
For a majority, the new service would make reducing household waste easier and more affordable, and was expected to halve the amount of waste the average household sent to landfill by 2028, he said.
Regarding the smaller size of the waste bins, Fellows said it was part of an initiative to reduce the amount of waste sent to the landfill and promote recycling.
"We are encouraging households to use their food scraps bins and to use their recycling bins so that they can free up space in their red-lid rubbish bin," he said.
"Currently, 33 per cent of waste sent to landfill is food scraps, so if we all use the food scraps bin it may be surprising how much more space people have in their rubbish bin for things that can't be reused, recycled or composted and need to go to landfill."
If households found the 140l rubbish bin too small, Fellows said they could pay for an additional bin, use the services of a private operator or take their rubbish to a transfer station.
Regarding the lack of a pay as you throw option, Fellows said the Talking Trash survey showed a majority of residents preferred a rates-funded service - 61 per cent v 39 per cent.
He also said 70 per cent of waste going to landfill could have been composted or recycled, the new service will be more cost-effective for the city overall, and other councils that had introduced similar rates-funded services had reduced the amount of household waste going to landfill significantly.
However, the council remained open to the idea of a pay as you throw option as a logical next step once the new service has been operating for a while.
Kleana Bins operator John Cruickshank said some customers had confirmed they would continue using his business.
"We are getting a few of our existing customers who are basically saying we don't care what the council is doing we're going to stay with you anyway. It's nice that we're getting that."
Cruickshank was trying to target a market through his website that would require larger bins or a weekly collection service (as the council will be collecting rubbish fortnightly).
"We've had a dozen or so inquiries. There does appear to be a bit of a market for people who want to keep having a weekly collection, but how big that market is going to be is complete guesswork.
"Some people seemed to get the idea we were going to disappear. We're trying to make sure they know we're not," he said.
However, he would still need to downsize his business by 80 per cent, has 10 or 12 extra trucks he will no longer need, and about 3000 to 4000 bins he will need to get rid of.
- The new kerbside service starts on July 1. Start using your bins a week or so ahead of your first collection.
- Food scraps will be collected weekly and everything else fortnightly.
- Each household will be given a collection day and week (either 'Week 1' or 'Week 2') which can be found on the side of the new bins.
- If you are 'Week 1', your rubbish will be collected in the first week, and recycling in the second week. If you are 'Week 2', it's recycling first, then rubbish.
- Each bin is collected by a different truck, so bins will be emptied at different times on collection day.
- Council rubbish bags will no longer be collected or available from supermarkets and retail outlets from July 1.
- Maleme St Transfer Station will close to the public on August 2 leaving only the Te Maunga at Mount Maunganui, which will be upgraded.