Wellington Rubbish
Katie Chapman reports at Dom Post:
Wellington’s rubbish collection service could face the axe as the cost of rubbish bags looks set to increase again.
The cash-strapped Wellington City Council is once again proposing to increase the price of yellow rubbish bags.
The council will also consider getting out of the rubbish business altogether, as it struggles to compete with private wheelie bin operators. …
In a review of waste collection services, the council would also consider whether it should get out of rubbish collection entirely, as private bin companies increasingly took over the market.
Up to 40 per cent of Wellington households had wheelie bins through private companies, Mr Mendonca said.
“It’s a bit of a strategic question of whether the council needs to be in the business.”
I hope the Council does look at whether a public sector operator is necessary, if private competitors have already taken care of 40% of households.
Our apartments don’t use the council service. What do others use?
February 22nd, 2012 at 1:07 pm
I remember those council bags, I know when we were using them I think they averaged $2 or $3 a bag. I think the green recycling bins were good, but could certainly be bigger.
Where I live now the council provides every house with a mini wheelie bin for general waste that gets emptied weekly, and then a big wheelie bin for recycling and another big wheelie bin for green waste which are emptied fortnightly. I think this is a great initiative and certainly helps keep the general rubbish we throw out down and makes us more conscious about what can be recycled/used as compost.
February 22nd, 2012 at 1:15 pm
When I lived in the Hutt we had a wheelie bin, but occasionally used black bags. But if you didn’t have an official sticker on it that cost like $2, it was not collected. I noticed however that in parts of Naenae and Taita you could put your rubbish out in beer can boxes and shopping bags and it was duly collected. So I switched to dumping my rubbish there in pak n slave bags.
February 22nd, 2012 at 1:23 pm
This is actually amazing: private operators outcompete a free service, and that in the rubbish business.
February 22nd, 2012 at 1:26 pm
I use a private bin as opposed to the council collection. Works out as being more cost effective as one can put garden waste in it, too.
February 22nd, 2012 at 1:29 pm
Bins are great…. except in wellington where there are a lot of people like me who live up 60+ steps.
Council bags suit us fine, sometimes it takes us 3 weeks to fill one up. I doubt there’s any wheelie bin companies that would come around for that little volume.
I don’t mind paying whatever for bags that the council see fit as the cost of waste disposal.
February 22nd, 2012 at 1:30 pm
It’s not a free service. You have to buy council rubbish bags. Packs of five costs around $11.
February 22nd, 2012 at 1:33 pm
I use one of the private wheelie-bin services. Simple decision … the wheelie bin is way more convenient than bags. I don’t have to remember to buy more wheelie bin every week at the supermarket. Cats & dogs can’t rip it open and strew my rubbish about. It looks much tidier. It’s easier to take to the end of the drive each week. They’re not as fussy about what goes in it as the council is with the bags.
Frankly, the council missed the boat by not offering its own wheelie-bin option years ago, and so the private sector has moved in to fill the gap.
February 22nd, 2012 at 1:37 pm
I use a wheelibin.
the new system the council changed to made no sense (and they keep delivering me these weird bags i have no idea what to do with) and the bags suck.
with the wheelibin there is no chance of the neighbourhood cats getting into it, and if i dont put it out for a week it does not stink up the place.
mine costs me $200 a year i think, so more than i would spend (probably) on bags but so much more convenient and i am not supporting the council inefficiently trying to compete.
Jams, other than the 60 steps which i empathise with (i have 15 and a fiddly driveway to deal with), the bin is pretty good, they are not that hard to manoever up and down steps (much the same as trying to carry multiple bags and make sure they don;t touch you), and the way you pay the wheelibin company is the same for a year whether you put it out or not. i regularly put mine out ever other week and its no drama as far as the company is concerned, they just swing by my place and if its on teh road they empty it, if not they don’t.
Down my exes cul de sac, of about 30 houses only 3 don;t have a bin, so they are pretty popular, at least in some parts.
February 22nd, 2012 at 1:59 pm
Our street is almost exclusively WCC yellow bags… (Karori, out the end by the park.)
February 22nd, 2012 at 2:04 pm
So the council can afford to throw parties and parades for Homo’s and ethnics but cant afford to collect rubbish.
Sort your fucking priorities out.
February 22nd, 2012 at 2:18 pm
So the Kiwiblog Right would prefer ratepayer-subsidised, loss-making public rubbish collection to continue competing with private enterprise?
Strange days indeed.
The forth horseman on his pale horse can’t be too far away now…
February 22nd, 2012 at 2:32 pm
I would have thought everywhere would have had council issues wheelie bins by now.
Lets council manage the waste stream better if you have a bin for garden waste, one for general rubbish and one for recycling.
February 22nd, 2012 at 2:32 pm
No RRM i would not. i see no reason for the council to make me subsidise inefficient rubbish collection when the wheelibin company does the job fine for a very reasonable fee.
February 22nd, 2012 at 2:37 pm
Mulcher, offal pit and private wheelie bin for my empty gin bottles does it for me.
February 22nd, 2012 at 3:06 pm
I prefer to keep the council bags rather than a private wheelie bin, sure theyre a pain and expensive but I live on a shared driveway and have no back yard to speak of (so nowhere to put a giant bin), and my rubbish output is pretty low anyway (bugger paying 200 a year)!
February 22nd, 2012 at 4:18 pm
If the council did not provide teh service and the private ones became more expensive in the absence of the council’s lower cost, there is the risk that rubbish would be dumped and the council would end up wearing the cost of clean up with no revenue due to having to manage health hazards.
February 22nd, 2012 at 4:21 pm
RRM,
I think it is more that KB commenters are very cynical about the prospect of any reduction in rates if the Council got out of rubbish collection.
February 22nd, 2012 at 4:24 pm
Nah, It’ll be the Twelfth Mahdi.
February 22nd, 2012 at 4:52 pm
The Council turned down offers to buy its works department which would have enabled tendering for the collection and instead ‘invested’ more money in it.
February 22nd, 2012 at 5:05 pm
How retarded! A council’s job is to fund rubbish collection, manage the infrastructure, and provide representation for ratepayers. Perhaps the knob-ends at the WCC should stop funding so many events like free entry to Te Papa exhibitions and arty galas, and get back to providing essential services! perhaps they have never heard of the KISS approach, Keep It Simple Stupid!
You are the city council Celia, not the environmental arts funding assoc of wellington.. as you seem to think you are
February 22nd, 2012 at 5:27 pm
There seems to be some avoidable ‘cherry picking’ here. The wheelie bin operators have picked off the more lucrative customers (especially those with easier access and higher rubbish volumes) leaving the Council with the rest. Hence it costs the council more per bag to pick up the rest. A higher bag cost would merely drive more users away. The Council may need to accept that it cannot offer a flat per bag fee to those with poor access. A compromise answer may be coin or token operated communal skips as used in Marlborough Sounds etc. Interestingly some Italian cities like Genoa provide communal skips which are free of charge – you take your rubbish to the skip on the way to work etc. There is a general and recycling skip at each location.
There will probably be more cheating. For example I saw a woman leave the apartments opposite Thorndon New World and blatantly put her rubbish in the street bin.
February 22nd, 2012 at 5:48 pm
I use a wheelibin, although I had a large amount of Garden rubbish (two trees worth) over Christmas. Took three loads to the tip at $12.50 each, thought it would take another 5 trips to clear it so got a skip and filled it up.
Neighbour added his garden waste (he asked), others added theirs – but heaps of our rubbish got removed! Some took the wood as firewood, others took bits and pieces that we had thrown out, like a collapsible gazebo that was missing a few parts and (as it was cheap and nasty) had bent tubes.
February 22nd, 2012 at 6:56 pm
Tauranga council got shot of rubbish collections years ago. Sold it off and made a quid but kept the transfer stations which are contracted out and they control the collection days. Lots of operators, plenty of choices and we can still put out black sacks at $2.00 or go to bins of all sorts including drums where the guys go right to where you stand them. Biggest drama was for longtime the council wouldn’t allow the trucks to use the pickup arm . Driven by political garbage over the bins not being put back properly. that’s dealt with now and everyone rubbishes happily evermore.
February 22nd, 2012 at 7:00 pm
What plans do you have in Tauranga V2 to dispose of all those rubbishy Wharfies from POAL that will soon be begging for work in your streets?
February 22nd, 2012 at 9:19 pm
I’m so proud
Wellington, the first town in new zealand to fail to even collect the rubbish. So the Rates they charge are for what then?
Oh yes painting cycle and bus lanes in slippery green paint? Installing 30kmh zones everywhere? But a basic service like collecting the rubbish is beyond them. Quelle surprise.
The reasons are of course obvious.
Expensive and stupidly flimsy rubbish bags. Recycling bags with incomprehensible rules. Flimsy wheelie bins that you arent allowed to put glass in because they arent strong enough – and the stupidity continues.
Thus every rubbish day in Wellington is greeted by rubbish blowing down the street, and uncollected “recycling” because it doesnt comply with this weeks specification for a “better city”.
Pathetic. But oh.so typical, at least we have an indoor stadium, oh yes, at the wrong end of town with no parking or decent transport links. Bravo Wellington!
February 22nd, 2012 at 10:28 pm
I live in Gold Coast city, and here (as well as most of the rest of Queensland) the council supplies me with two wheelie bins, the rubbish bin is picked up weekly and the recycling fortnightly. This cost is included in my rates, and there is no need for me to find a private provider (the council has contractors, obviously).
That said, my rates are pretty expensive.