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Remuera, Parnell and Newmarket business associations are upset over new wheelie bins for recyclables, saying they are too small to take away bulky cardboard.
The Auckland City Council introduced new 240-litre recycling bins for households and businesses this month. At the same time, businesses were banned from putting out lose rubbish, such as cardboard, on the kerbside as part of a clean-street policy.
Remuera Business Association manager Victoria McArthur said the businesses could request a second bin for $60 a year, but it was still not enough for many businesses.
The association suggested a weekly kerbside collection between the close of business and 7pm or an alley-service collection where businesses could stack cardboard and paper. The council found the suggestions unacceptable, she said.
Parnell Mainstreet manager Debbie Harkness said local businesses faced the same challenges, except the problem was exacerbated in Parnell because rubbish and recycling collections occurred on different days.
Residents and businesses were struggling to remember which day to put out which bins, she said.
Newmarket Business Association general manager Cameron Brewer said his organisation had received a record number of irate phone calls, emails and shoulder taps about the blue-lidded recycling bins.
"The main complaint is that they offer inadequate capacity for businesses and those who discard a lot of cardboard don't fancy paying a private sector collector to do a job that in the past has been organised by the council.
"What's more, smaller retailers simply don't have the room," Mr Brewer said.
Auckland City utility and environmental manager Mike McQuillan said there had been a strong buy-in from mainstreet organisations towards the policy of keeping streets clean of rubbish, such as cardboard. He said some mainstreets, such as Otahuhu and Heart of the City in central Auckland, had been very proactive in eliminating rubbish from their streets.
He said the Remuera, Parnell and Newmarket business associations had a number of options. They could arrange for a private operator to collect recyclables door-to-door, operate a common receptacle such as a paper cage or take the cardboard themselves to a recycling company.
"There is going to be changes of behaviour that will take a while for people to establish as appropriate and which fits with that clean-street objective," Mr McQuillan said.
