New Hamilton rubbish service accessibility issues tackled

Trent Fowles and Elias Koronis stand by the council;s decision to add a food scrap bin to the curbside waste collection. Photo / Makayla Wallace-Tidd

Hamilton City Council's new rubbish and recycling scheme will have a strong focus on accessibility and education.

From July 1 2020, a new kerbside rubbish and recycling contract will roll out across the city. The new service will be a 120-litre rubbish wheeled bin, a 240-litre recycling wheeled bin, and a 45-litre crate for glass — all collected fortnightly. There will be a 20 to 30-litre food bin collected weekly.

The council has awarded a 10-year kerbside rubbish and recycling contract to EnviroWaste Services. It will include some electric rubbish trucks.

As the council aims to develop how to deal with different types of waste they have had to tackle the issue of accessibility, as each household will have four waste and recycling bins.

Disadvantaged residents will be able to select an assisted service for their collection.
"That might be where someone on the truck goes to the back of the house and gets the bin out for them," HCC compliance manager, Trent Fowles, said.

"Obviously, it's not a free for all and people will need to demonstrate that they do need the service," he said.

Mr Fowles said they have been working closely with the disability services within council to make sure they have all residents covered.

He said that around 50 per cent of household waste is food so the addition of a food waste bin was a must.

The 240L recycling bins will also accept plastics one to seven, and cardboard, including pizza boxes.

The food waste bin will be collected weekly, while the other three bins will be collected fortnightly.

Project manager for the new service, Jared Hatwell, said specific solutions will be made for households that may struggle keeping the four bins on their property.

"That could include placing the bins in the garages, out on the front lawn or around the side," Mr Hatwell said.

"Any new developments will now be taking into account storage for these bins."

Communication and Engagement Advisor for the HCC Waste Minimisation Project Elias Koronis said that as part of the education for the new waste bins, flyers will be sent out and and neighbourhood sessions will be held to help residents understand the transition.

Also, Mr Hatwell will be taking part in the Lugton's Round the Bridges race, dressed in wheelie bin costume. He'll be here to also answer questions and help raise awareness for the change to the rubbish service. The wheelie bin character will be used as part of the information campaign.

Soft plastic recycling has been excluded from the new service as the council currently funds the Love NZ scheme run by The Recycling Forum. It accepts soft plastics and is available in Countdown supermarkets and The Warehouse stores city wide.
"The majority of councils are supporting it — we are one of them. We are lucky that we have nine stores available in Hamilton." Additional reporting Hamilton News