Sustainability and Waste Manager Sam Fellows with all the kerbside bins ready for distribution at Port of Tauranga. Photo / George Novak
A Tauranga business once worth $3 million will be valued at "basically nothing" when the council starts kerbside waste collections, its owner says.
Kleana Bins operator John Cruickshank said he would be left without his retirement fund and with more than 8000 useless bins.
It comes as news of glossy new bins for Tauranga City Council's kerbside collections will be hitting the street berms from as early as next week - a stark reminder of what Cruickshank has lost.
The first of the 165,000 rubbish, recycling and food scraps bins will be delivered city-wide to kerbsides during March, April and May, ahead of the first collections beginning in July.
However, the sight of the new bins for Cruickshank will be haunting as he struggles to hold on to staff and he watches the business he has built for 20 years circle the drain.
"It's all fairly catastrophic for us."
The new rate-funded system will make reducing waste easier, more accessible and more affordable for the community as a whole, the council says, and is expected to halve the amount of waste the average household sends to landfill each year by 2028.
But the decision made by the local government last year has left Cruickshank with a business he no longer believes is viable.
"We don't know exactly how much business we are going to lose but the best guess is about 80 per cent of turnover, and it's by no means certain the business will survive because downsizing by 80 per cent is pretty dramatic."
Staff have already walked out, but Cruickshank doesn't blame them stating most of his workers would be out of work by the end of June.
Some overheads could be reduced, but Cruickshank believes he would be looking for smaller premises to operate from.
"We probably won't be able to do that until the middle of next year because I have so much extra gear to get rid of, like 10 or 12 extra trucks that are over and above what we are going to need, and 8000 wheelie bins I no longer have a use for."
Western Bay of Plenty District Council is also installing a kerbside collection scheme, although it is in the rural areas of the western bay that Cruickshank thinks he will be able to hold on to customers such as those in Ōtamarākau and upper Kaimai.
Cruickshank said the whole situation had made him feel depressed.
"Two or three years ago I had a business that was potentially worth three or $4m and now I've got a business that's basically nothing. That's my retirement plan down the gurgler.
"It's a bit like somebody's stolen $3m off me and I can't do anything about it."
In response to Cruickshank's comments, Tauranga City Council manager sustainability and waste Sam Fellows appreciated it was a difficult and challenging time for some.
"Through our waste management and minimisation plan we have been signalling for several years that rates-funded kerbside waste collection service was a possibility in the city.
"Our tender process in early 2020 was open to all bidders and one of our key focuses was on ensuring jobs for local staff at the living wage or above."
Fellows said the council had been in regular contact with providers throughout the project and were aware of their concerns.
"Tauranga City Council's new kerbside collections will only be for residential properties which offers an opportunity for current providers to focus on the commercial market, where there is a growing demand."
A Waste Management spokeswoman, another rubbish provider in the Bay of Plenty, said it would continue to provide services to residential and commercial customers.
"We will continue to do so, adjusting our residential services for our existing and future customers as both councils introduce their rates-funded model.
"We began proactively communicating with our residential customers about ending their current services with Waste Management in November last year."
Most customers would end their term the day before the councils take over on July 1, she said.
Bin Boys and JJ Richards were contacted for comment.
On the delivery of bins, Fellows said it was a mammoth task to deliver the 165,000 bins to 55,000 households but was doing so early to ensure all households were ready, come July 1.
"All of the 165,000 bins are being stored at the Port of Tauranga, ready for rollout to begin from Monday.
"The recycling and rubbish bins have been made in New Zealand, and the food scraps bins are made and imported from the United Kingdom."
Each household would receive a rubbish wheelie bin and recycling wheelie bin, as well as a small food scraps bin – which will be inside the rubbish bin to make it easier for delivery.
"Almost 70 per cent of Tauranga's household waste currently sent to landfill could be recycled or composted instead. Together, let's reduce the amount of waste we send to landfill," Fellows said.
"If a resident does not want the rates-funded rubbish, recycling and food scraps bins, they can contact Tauranga City Council directly to request to not use the service, however the cost of the service will remain and will not be removed from the property rates."
Fellows wanted residents to give the bins a try for a month and to think about how they will dispose of their waste if they do not use the bins, keeping in mind the council's rubbish bag service would stop from July 1.
"We really want residents to realise the importance of separating their food scraps, recycling and glass bottles and jars from their rubbish bin – rather than sending it all to landfill."
• Central suburbs (Tauranga Central and South, Ōtūmoetai, Matua, Bellevue, Brookfield, Bethlehem, Judea, Gate Pa, Parkvale and Greerton). These suburbs will receive their bins first between March 15 and early April.
• Southern and western suburbs (Poike, Tauriko, Ōropi, Pyes Pa, Harini, Maungatapu, Welcome Bay and Ohauiti). It is estimated that these suburbs will receive their bins in mid-April, once deliveries to the central suburbs are complete.
• Coastal suburbs (Kairua, Matapihi, Pāpāmoa Beach, Pāpāmoa and Mount Maunganui). It is estimated that these suburbs will receive their bins in mid-April and May once deliveries to all other suburbs are complete.