Kerbside collection days in some Tauranga suburbs to change

Tauranga will have a new kerbside rubbish and recycling collection day. Photo/file

Some Tauranga suburbs will have a new kerbside rubbish and recycling collection day for the first time in 24 years.

Collection days in Maungatapu, Tauranga Central (north of 11th Ave) and Sandhurst Dr (including streets off it to the north-west) will move to Mondays starting on February 5.

Greerton (including Poike and Hairini north of SH29) will move to Wednesdays starting from February 7 and Bethlehem (north of SH2) will move to Fridays starting February 9.

All affected residents will be notified of the upcoming changes by their private collection service provider and detailed collection area information is also available on the Tauranga City Council website.

Tauranga City Council acting manager for resource recovery and waste Cathy Davidson said the changes were a result of requests from private collection companies who were struggling to service all households in the allocated collection days due to urban growth.

"Although council does not manage the kerbside collection services, we do facilitate which days collectors can operate in each area," Davidson said.

"To enable collectors to service all Tauranga households between the ideal times of 7.30am and 5.30pm on weekdays, we've changed some areas' collection days."

When collection days were last allocated in 1994, Papamoa had only 2400 households to service - today there are around 11,600, the council said in a media statement.

The Lakes suburb did not exist in 1994 but will soon have more than 2000 households that require kerbside rubbish and recycling services.

Davidson said a lot of work had been done with waste contractors to redesign collection areas so each area had a more even balance of household numbers and also allowed for future suburban growth.

"We are happy that the agreed new collection areas minimise the number of households affected by collection day changes whilst ensuring that collectors can achieve their rounds efficiently and economically," she said.

For further information visit www.tauranga.govt.nz/kerbside-collection-days.