A variety of Tauranga City Council rubbish bins and recycling bins displayed during a council meeting. Photo / File
A variety of Tauranga City Council rubbish bins and recycling bins displayed during a council meeting. Photo / File
Senior people in Tauranga City Council have admitted it could have done a better job of communicating changes to the kerbside rubbish and recycling system.
The council announced late last month it would be introducing a rates-funded four-bin kerbside collection system from July 1, and the contract had been wonby foreign-owned Envirowaste.
The announcement sparked initial confusion about various aspects of the service, and a wave of complaints and negative feedback from some in the community, alongside praise from others.
The Bay of Plenty Times has been inundated with letters to the editor on the subject, predominantly from those objecting to the compulsory service.
Some residents wanting to opt-out have gone as far as threatening to ditch their unwanted council bins in public spaces when they get delivered.
Others want the council to offer pay-as-you-throw charging for rubbish like the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, something Tauranga said it may do eventually if technology improved to allow charging by weight.
The issues were raised in a council meeting yesterday.
Councillor John Robson asked whether the council had plans to widely communicate with the community about why the council did not choose pay-as-you-throw and how it would mitigate downsides of the service "given the level of disquiet in our community".
Infrastructure general manager Nic Johansson said the council thought it had done that initially, but would look at options for further communications due to the "disquiet".
There was information on the council website people could be pointed to, he said.
Tauranga mayor Tenby Powell said it was an interesting subject because previous councils also wanted a "more sophisticated refuse system for years" and the process had led to the issuing of a $45 million contract.
"But we haven't been able to sell that to the community."
That was in spite of research indicating ratepayers would pay on average much less than they pay now.
He said pay-as-you-throw was rejected for "very valid reasons".
Tauranga City Council chief executive Marty Grenfell and mayor Tenby Powell. Photo / File
"I don't believe we have communicated that well. We have really let ourselves down."
"Had we foreseen the level of attention it was going to get I think we would have rolled it out quite differently and we would have communicated it quite differently."
He said they looked at other councils around New Zealand that started similar new services with little comment from their communities.
"It's played out quite differently for us and we maybe should have been ... insightful enough to pick that up, but we didn't."
He said how the change would be communicated had been discussed including with elected members.
Tauranga City Council infrastructure general manager Nic Johansson. Photo / File
"But I would agree to the fact we underplayed it."
Powell buttoned the conversation with a picture of three bins at a household in Naseby, Central Otago, "which has a population of about six". He later clarified it was 120.
Asked outside of the meeting by the Bay of Plenty Times to confirm the $45m figure Powell quoted - not previously revealed - the council declined on commercial sensitivity grounds.
General manager of people and engagement Susan Jamieson said there had been discussion in the council about having pay-as-you-throw from year one, but chief executive Marty Grenfell had said it would not be operationally feasible or financially prudent to revisit this decision.
