Waipu Cove campground management is concerned rubbish could pile up during the busy summer season if transfer station hours are cut by more than half.
Whangarei District Council members voted at last week's infrastructure committee meeting to a three-month trial reducing hours from 66.5 hours a week to 29 hours for the Uretiti, Hikurangi, Ngunguru, Parua Bay, Tauraroa and Kokopu stations, and to 20 hours a week for Ruatangata and Oakura stations, from February 16 next year.
The Uretiti station's current opening hours of 7.30am to 5pm daily work well for the Waipu Cove camp, reserve board secretary Angus McCulloch says.
"Over summer there [are] at least two truckloads [of rubbish] a day, and some of it's pretty smelly so you wouldn't want to store it," he said.
The council resolved to reduce hours - slashing the budget for operating the stations in 2014/5 by $150,000 - after it was observed the stations often had periods that weren't busy.
Public consultation was carried out between August 4 and September 12, with 241 submissions received - one of which was a petition from Tauraroa containing 35 signatures, which was treated as a single submission.
Of those 55 per cent were for the reduced hours, and 45 per cent against. "Clearly this is a controversial topic," Whangarei Mayor Sheryl Mai said at last Wednesday's meeting.
"We as a group looked for ways to reduce operational costs. Often it is commented that operators at the transfer stations are sitting there with nothing to do.
"Most of our waste is dealt with in the bag at the kerbside, or the recycling. I am confident this is the way to do it."
Mr McCulloch applauded the council for holding the trial off until after the peak season, and being very "thorough" in its dealings with the public.
"Obviously the council is pretty concerned what people think. It appears there is a strong need for rationalisation - but the result does need to work for the community," he said.
All stations would be open at weekends, the council also providing for extended summer hours in future years if the trial was successful.