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Auckland adopts food scrap collections

Publish Date
Tue, 12 Jun 2018, 12:57PM
The council plans to charge all households $67 a year for food scrap collections. (Photo / 123rf)
The council plans to charge all households $67 a year for food scrap collections. (Photo / 123rf)

Auckland adopts food scrap collections

Publish Date
Tue, 12 Jun 2018, 12:57PM

Auckland will move to the full introduction of kerbside food collections after councillors voted for a new waste management plan today.

The city has started trialling a third bin for food scrap collections in Papakura, but plans to phase in the system over the next few years.

Households already have a general waste bin and a recycling bin, some of whom pay a flat fee of $117 for the general bin, while others pay for a plastic bag or bin tag for each collection.

The council plans to charge all households $67 a year for food scrap collections and eventually shift the weekly general waste bin collections to fortnightly on a pay-as-you-throw system.

Councillor Linda Cooper said the new plan was a step change, albeit a tricky change for some people. Just tinkering, she said, was a waste for everyone who made submissions.

A hearings panel that heard 6579 submissions on the waste management plan considered calls for people to opt out of a food scraps collection, but panel chairwoman and councillor Penny Hulse said it was not practical.

Hulse, who chaired the environment and community committee that approved the plan today, said it was an extraordinary time for waste, getting the right systems in place and meeting the challenges along the way.

She said there were a lot of concerns among submitters, including moving from weekly to fortnightly refuse collections and plastic waste getting into the marine environment.

The council has opted to continue weekly collections until the food scraps collection is well embedded.

Other actions included in the plan are advocating for a higher waste levy, working closer with the private sector to reduce commercial waste which accounts for 80 per cent of total waste and building new waste recycling centres.

Auckland waste systems
Current system
Auckland City and Manukau
$102 for base service, including recycling and inorganic collections
$117 flat fee for general rubbish collection
$219 total
North Shore, Waitakere and Papakura
$102 for base service, including recycling and inorganic collections
$135 for pay as you throw general rubbish collection
$237 total
Future system
For average household collection across the region
$108 for base service including recycling and inorganic collections
$89 for general pay as you throw rubbish, weekly eventually moving to fortnightly 
$67 flat fee for food waste weekly collection
$264 total

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