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The proposed changes to Auckland’s bin collections come in the wake of the Government’s standardised kerbside recycling that came on February 1.
The draft Waste Management and Minimisation Plan 2024, currently open for public consultation until March 28, proposes moving from weekly to fortnightly rubbish collections across Auckland from July 2026.
Milk containers waiting to be recycled. Photo / Bevan Conley
Auckland Council general manager waste solutions Parul Sood said that although most households would comfortably make do with fortnightly rubbish collections, especially if they are using their food scraps bin and recycling bin correctly, the plan accounted for larger households that may struggle with a fortnightly rubbish collection.
“If you live in an extended family situation, for example, and find your rubbish bin start to overflow regularly, you have the option of ordering a larger 240L rubbish bin from the council,” she said.
“You can also order an extra food scraps bin or extra larger recycling bin with no extra charge to your rates bill.”
Although ordering the larger rubbish bin would cost the household slightly more than the smaller one under targeted rates (as is the case now), ratepayers would save money if the switch to a fortnightly rubbish collection went ahead as proposed, she said.
“Over the last 12 years, Aucklanders have already reduced the amount of waste they’ve sent to landfill by 10,000 tonnes. That’s something to be incredibly proud of as it reflects solid progress towards our zero waste goal. If we continue to work together, we can and will reach zero waste by 2040.
“Research from here and abroad shows that moving to fortnightly rubbish collections motivates people to optimise the use of their three kerbside bins. We expect fortnightly collections will reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill by around 32,000 tonnes per year. This is over and above what we are already diverting through the food scraps service.”
It's proposed to change the options for rubbish and recycling in Auckland. Photo / Bevan Conley
Under the proposal, fortnightly rubbish collections would take place on alternate weeks to kerbside recycling, with the food scraps collection to remain a weekly service.
“We’re also actively expanding the resource recovery network across Tāmaki Makaurau, which currently includes 13 community recycling centres, where you can take excess recyclable and inorganic items.”
Close to 20 councils around New Zealand have already moved to fortnightly collections, including Christchurch City Council which has had fortnightly collections for more than 15 years.
Audits of Auckland’s rubbish bins before the food scraps collection rollout show that close to two-thirds of bin contents by weight could have been diverted from landfill through recycling or composting. Only 35 per cent of the contents was comprised of waste that needs to go to landfill.
The goal of standardised recycling is to reduce kerbside rubbish from a 2022 baseline of 141kg to 120kg per capita by 2028 and to 100kg by 2030, helped along by the recent general rollout of food scrap bins expected to reduce up to 41 per cent of bin contents by weight.
