Kerbside collections 2021

Since households will have food scraps and recycling bins, they will produce less rubbish that needs to go to landfill.

You will receive a collection calendar when your new bins are delivered that will let you know when to put each of the bins out. You will also be able to see your household’s collection days on our website closer to the start of the service.

We’ll be rolling out the bins to all households suburb by suburb in the months leading up to the start date in July. As a result, you may have your bins delivered to your kerbside well in advance of the service starting. More information will be provided about expected delivery dates of bins closer to the time.

The service will commence on 1 July 2021. If you have an existing waste provider, you will need to contact them if you do not intend to continue to use their services from 1 July 2021. The waste provider will also need to remove their bins. Council’s existing rubbish bag collection service (black rubbish bag with pink sticker) will stop on 30 June 2021.

The food scraps, rubbish, recycling and glass recycling service will initially cost $230 including GST, for the first year. If households choose to have the opt-in garden waste service, this will cost an additional $60 including GST for the first year. The cost of the service will be added to residential rates from 1 July 2021.

For the first year, households will be provided with a 140L rubbish bin, a 240L recycling bin and a 23L food scraps bin to add to their existing 45L glass crate. After the first year, households can select from 80L, 140L and 240L bins for rubbish and recycling collections – with smaller bins costing less than larger bins. We learnt from other councils it’s best to roll out the service with the standard size bins for the first year, before introducing the different bin size option/costs.

The opt-in garden waste bin is a 240L bin collected monthly.

For the first year, all households will be provided with the standard size and cost bins. After the first year, ratepayers will be able to select from different sized rubbish and recycling bins to suit their particular household’s needs. Any changes in bin size will be reflected in rates charges – with reduced rates for smaller bins and increased rates for larger bins. Final costs for the smaller and larger bin options are still to be confirmed.

Households are not able to opt out of the rates-funded kerbside rubbish, recycling, food scraps and glass collection services ($230 for the first year), but the monthly garden waste collection ($60 for the first year) is an opt-in service.

We have an opt-in system currently with our kerbside collections being largely in the hands of private waste collection companies – and nearly 70% of our household waste that goes to landfill could be composted or recycled instead. In order for the service to make an impact, we need the service to be convenient for all households to take part. Spreading the cost across a centralised, city-wide service in rates also ensures it’s cost effective.

Households are not able to opt out of the food scraps service. Almost 33% of all Tauranga household waste that goes to landfill is food, and the new food scraps collection is our best opportunity to reduce the amount of household waste we are sending to landfill. The food scraps collection also takes things like cooked food, meat, dairy, bones and fish which you normally wouldn’t put into your household compost or worm farm.