Hamilton City Council resumes collection of food waste bins

From Monday April 4, people can put out their food scraps bin on their usual collection day. Photo / Hamilton City Council

Hamilton's kerbside collection of food waste bins will resume on Monday after being suspended last month because of the number of staff affected by Covid-19.

Hamiltonians will again be able to keep their food waste out of landfill after being asked in March to temporarily store food scraps in freezers, or home-compost their scraps.

Due to Omicron's impact on staffing levels, food waste collection was put on hold although residents could drop off food waste at the Lincoln Street Refuse Transfer Station free of charge.

"We'd like to thank residents for their understanding, and we're particularly grateful to those who did their best in March to keep food scraps out of landfill – using the red bin should always be the last resort," council rubbish and recycling manager Trent Fowles said.

The production of compost from Hamilton's food waste, known as Tronpost, will also resume from next week, Fowles said

"Tronpost is a useful product, instead of our food waste going to landfill and creating methane, a greenhouse gas.

"Our award-winning rubbish and recycling kerbside collection saw Hamiltonians divert a total of 6000 tonnes of food waste from landfill in 2021.

"That's something all of us can be proud of, and keep doing more of now the service is back in full swing again."

More information on Hamilton's rubbish and recycling kerbside collection service, including an online recycling sorting tool, is available at fightthelandfill.co.nz

You can also download the free mobile app Antenno for collection day notifications through Google Play or the Apple Store.