Man fed up with recycling service drops bin outside Auckland Council office

Vinko Bosnyak has dumped his un-emptied recycling bin outside Auckland Council's Takapuna office in protest. Photo / Supplied

Auckland Council had a hard time missing Vinko Bosnyak's complaint today -- he parked it at their front door.

The Mairangi Bay man last night hand-delivered his half-full recycling bin to the council's Takapuna office, placing the yellow and blue bin directly outside the office's automatic doors.

He took action after trying unsuccessfully for four days to get his recycling bin emptied from outside his Gull Lane home.

Mr Bosnyak rarely uses the council's rubbish collection service after deciding to pay $175 a year for a private bin collection, partly because the council service was unreliable, but said his neighbours had also complained of delays in rubbish collection.

"For the past six months it's been really bad ... they call this the Auckland Super City, I think it's the Super Sh***y."

Council staff were sympathetic, but the problem was not being solved.

"Our rates have gone up dramatically [and] service has deteriorated. I will no longer pay my rates and expect to be treated like this. From now on, every time the council does not do their job I will call twice and give them two days to complete their service, on the third day I will dump my rubbish or recycling at their office."

It could be the start of city-wide civil disobedience -- Mr Bosnyak encouraged others in the same situation to follow his lead.

"I will start to organise a city-wide organisation to start dumping our recycling or rubbish at the council offices in the hope that they will improve their service and take ratepayers more seriously."

Council waste solutions manager Ian Stupple said they were aware of ongoing contractor issues with missed recycling collection on the North Shore.

"We apologise for the inconvenience this has caused our customers and we are working hard to ensure the issues are resolved as soon as possible."

Four requests for service had been received from residents in the Mairangi Bay area this year about recycling not being collected, three from Gull Lane.

The street would now be monitored to make sure recycling was collected, and they would remind contractor, Veolia, of the service expected, Mr Stupple said.

Mr Bosnyak's recycling bin has been emptied and the bin will be returned to him.

A message was left this afternoon with Veolia communications staff at the company's head office in Sydney.