Auckland rubbish collection trial a success, but technology won't be rolled out

Thursday, 21 April 2022

It takes about six months for Justine Skilling and her family to fill a rubbish bin. (Video first published in 2017)

A new rubbish collection method trialled in Auckland was a runaway success, but there are no plans to roll it out across the region.

Auckland Council is reviewing how it runs its waste collection services following a proposal to move the entire region to a rates-funded model.

A rates-funded model would do away with the pay as you throw (PAYT) bin tag scheme used by residents in Papakura, West Auckland and on the North Shore, who purchase the tags to attach to their bin on rubbish collection day.

In 2021, rubbish collection using radio frequency identification (RFID) was trialled on the North Shore.

Auckland Council had planned to roll out the bin tag scheme across the entire region, but now believes the cost of bin tags would need to be much higher to prompt people to reduce waste.

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The elimination of the single-use bin tags would also be a win for the environment, the post-trial report said.

RFID is a wireless data transfer method.

RFID chips on rubbish bins would provide Auckland Council data on residents’ waste habits. (File photo)

When a bin fitted with a RFID chip is emptied, payment is deducted from the resident’s account which is linked to their debit card.

The technology eliminates the need for residents to buy bin tags, which Auckland Council’s post-trial report said were persistently stolen, meaning collection had to be rescheduled at the council’s cost.

It also provided Auckland Council with more insight on trial participants’ waste habits.

“The linking of the RFID to the specific address and bin size provided staff with valuable insights into how often residents in each neighbourhood put their bin out, and how often each bin size goes out.”

The trial took place between May and July 2021, involving 498 households from Albany, Beach Haven, Browns Bay, Murrays Bay, Northcross, Torbay and Totara Vale.

One of the council’s rubbish collection contractors already operates a PAYT service with an IT platform for its customers to manage their collection, so an Auckland Council-branded version was developed for the trial.

The cost for each RFID collection was slightly less than the cost of bin tags, depending on the size of the rubbish bin – $2.70 for 80 litres, $3.95 for 120-140L and $5.70 for 240L.

Despite some confusion over the sign-up process, bin chipping and the initial payment process, participant feedback on the trial was “overwhelmingly positive”, according to the post-trial report.

“Overall, the trial was successful in providing a convenient, reliable service that … based on survey responses, achieved very high satisfaction ratings from customers.”

Of the 191 residents who completed a trial survey, 92 per cent wanted the service to continue.

Totara Vale resident Shannon Mills told Stuff the service made rubbish collection “a total ease”.

“It was just easy, you could put the bin out and just forget about it,” she said, adding that she didn’t miss having to dash out to buy a bin tag last minute.

“It was easy. I loved it, I really enjoyed it. It’s a pity they didn't keep it going.”

Despite the trial’s success, RFID technology won’t be rolled out widely any time soon, as the council is still deciding whether the region should move entirely to a rates-funded model or a PAYT model.

“Should the region decide to pursue a user pays model, then the RFID payment method could be progressed,” an Auckland Council spokesperson added.

Aucklanders were not given information about RFID technology when asked during the annual plan consultation which payment model they preferred.

The council spokesperson would not speculate on when Aucklanders could expect a shift to RFID rubbish collection in the future, due to the pending consultation results.

However, the council is considering using RFID chips on new bins in the future, including for the food scraps collection service starting in 2023, to help locate missing bins, resolve complaints about missed collections and for waste habit data.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article spelled out RFID as rapid frequency identification. The acronym stands for radio frequency identification. (Amended at 7.33am on April 22, 2022)