Mixed reviews over Hamilton City Council rubbish proposal

Tuesday, 11 October 2016

The proposed bins would include a 120-litre wheelie bin for rubbish, a 240-litre wheelie bin for recycling, the existing recycling crate set aside for glass, and a 23-litre bin for food waste.

A proposal to ditch plastic bags for wheeled bins has sparked a reaction among Hamilton residents.

The Waikato Times posted a poll on its Neighbourly site regarding the Hamilton City Council proposal for a new rubbish and recycling service 18 days ago.

Waters Asset Manager Emily Botje and City Waters Manager Maire Porter with the proposed rubbish and recycling bins.

On Monday more than half of the 1136 votes received were in favour of the change, but potential issues were raised in the comments.

The new proposal would see black plastic bags turfed in favour of a 120-litre wheelie bin for rubbish, a 240-litre wheelie bin for recycling, the existing recycling crate set aside for glass, and a 23-litre bin for food waste.

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Through the Neighbourly poll residents can cast a vote either for wheelie bins, for rubbish bags or opt to wait to see what the cost would be.

On Monday 54.2 percent of the votes were for the change, 21.6 percent said their choice would depend on the cost and 24.2 percent said they were happy using bags.

AnnaMaria Kerr from Claudelands was one of 124 users that commented on the poll.

Kerr said the setup would increase the volume of waste, rather than encourage people to reduce waste.

Adrienne Putt from Nawton said council needed to spare a thought for the elderly as a lot of them would be unable to push their bins out to the road.

Helen Nixon Nixon from Rototuna said when bins were introduced in the UK some elderly people even fell into their bins and broke bones.

Despite some of the concerns raised city waters manager Maire Porter said council has received an overwhelming amount of positive feedback.

Porter said if the city changed to a wheeled bin service council would look at including an assisted collection service for people who are physically unable to get their bins to the roadside.

She said council is also looking at a special service for intensive housing areas where storage or collection space on the street is a problem.

The costs of the new service depends on what option is implemented and the frequency of collections.

'Our projections suggest the operational cost of the new service would be between $3 to $32 a year more, on average per household, than the current service.'

There is also the initial cost of the wheeled bins but how this is paid will be determined by the new council.

Porter said the average household would save up to $20 a year on the cost of black bags, as they won't be needed with a wheeled bin collection.

Although, some residents said they would still use black bags to line their bins to prevent smelly juices from accumulating.

The proposed rubbish bin would hold the same volume of rubbish as the current service of two black bags so the amount of waste would not increase.

Porter said Hamilton City currently throws 24,000 tonnes of waste into landfill every year, and the cost to do this is expected to increase markedly in the future.

She said food waste is more than a third, by weight, of all black bag rubbish that goes to landfill – hence the necessity of a food waste collection.

The food waste will go to a specialised green waste facility and would likely end up as garden compost bags.

From October 17 the community can have their say about the future of kerbside collection.