Zizi Sparks: Kerbside rubbish collection overdue in Tauranga

Rotorua residents when the bins were first rolled out. Photo / File

I send more to the landfill than I should.

There are food scraps. The spinach which goes off before you get through the bag (note to self: eat more veges), there is the cling wrap I use when we've run out of plastic ware, the baking paper I use once, but could probably reuse and the weeds I pull out too infrequently to justify a green waste bin.

So when I heard about Tauranga City Council's proposal to add a new kerbside food scraps, recycling and rubbish collection to its existing kerbside glass recycling collection I was shocked.

These things need adding? Does Tauranga not already have them?

In Rotorua, we have three bins: One for rubbish, one for glass recycling and one for other recyclables -- metal tins, paper and cardboard and plastic types one through seven.

Living with one other person we put out a half-full rubbish bin once a fortnight and either a mostly full recycling bin once a fortnight or a very full bin once a month. Recycling is collected fortnightly and rubbish weekly.

According to Tauranga City Council, Tauranga has one of the worst rates per capita in New Zealand for sending household waste to landfill and nearly 70 per cent of household waste that is sent to landfill could be recycled or composted.

This blows my mind. Surely the country's fifth-biggest city should be doing more to decrease the footprint locals are having on the world.

Right now, only city residents who take recycling to a council transfer station or have a private company collect their recycling, take part in recycling. If I had to take my waste to a transfer station to recycle, I doubt I'd do it.

I support the council's proposal.

In Rotorua, the service adds $205.06 to each property's rates bill. It's a small price to pay for the convenience of recycling from home and a small price to pay to do your part for the planet.