Yellow or red? First day confusion for new Tauranga City Council kerbside collection service

Some residents put all of their council bins out for collection. Photo / George Novak

There were a few first-day jitters for Tauranga City Council's new rates-funded kerbside rubbish and recycling collection service yesterday, with some residents putting out the wrong bins.

For Welcome Bay residents, yesterday was rubbish day, so only the red rubbish bins and food scrap bins should have been out.

Yesterday was recycling day for Pyes Pa and The Lakes residents, so only the yellow recycling bins, food scraps, and glass bins should have been out.

The Bay of Plenty Times saw several households had put out both yellow and red bins.

Tauranga City Council had also noticed some residents putting all their bins out at once.

The new council yellow recycling bins in The Lakes. Photo / George Novak

Pyes Pa resident Helen O'Connor said she had also seen red bins when they should not have been out.

But fellow Pyes Pa resident Sandy Houltram said "heaps of yellow-top bins" were out correctly for recycling day.

Houltram said she would probably use the council's yellow recycling bin, but Kleana Bins would remain her primary rubbish collection provider.

"The size is good, we had really good service, and I'm really annoyed that they've sort of wiped out the local providers."

Kleana Bins and Bin Boys were approached for comment. Waste Management was approached for comment but could not respond in time.

The new kerbside recycling collection service started yesterday for The Lakes residents. Photo / George Novak

Council sustainability and waste manager Sam Fellows said it would take time for everyone to get used to the service.

"We're glad everyone has remembered to put their bins out on the right collection day, but we encourage residents to check what goes out when. They can use the online search tool to do this, or can check their brochure that was delivered in their food scraps bin."

Fellows said the new kerbside service was "off to a great start", and had found "very little" contamination in recycling bins.

"We'd like to give a massive thank you to residents for remembering to wash, remove lids and recycle the correct items. Recycling correctly means that we can recycle as much as possible, sending less to landfill."

The assisted service for residents who had a physical disability or ailment was also going well. One customer contacted the council to give a "massive thank you to the young gentleman" who collected her bins, Fellows said.

Call and email volumes to the council about rubbish bins were "no greater than usual", but the council was expecting more when residents got home from work.

Checking your collection day

The collection day for each bin depends on the suburb.

Check upcoming kerbside collections with the search tool on the council website by entering your address.

You can also look for the collection day and week on the new bins, then check the collection calendar that was delivered inside your food scraps bin.