New plan rubbish, according to Waste Association

The Twin Cities will see changes to their recycling and rubbish systems, including weekly recycling. Photo / Supplied

Both Twin City councils have passed a new plan to minimise waste, but according to the Hawke's Bay Waste Association, it's the plan that's rubbish.

Deborah Burnside, representing the HB Waste Association, says local contractors are unsure how switching from 60 litre bags for kerbside collection to 80 litre bins will reduce waste.

Napier Councillor and deputy chair of the joint waste futures steering committee, Annette Brosnan, said research showed the average Napier household put out 80 litres of rubbish a week.

"Research showed us that the average waste output per household in Napier is 80 litres," Brosnan said.

"So we are meeting the average need."

Burnside said HB Waste Association would have preferred to see more of a focus on green waste, for example through rebate or voucher system, rather than providing bins which were readily available in the market.

"All locally owned and operated contractors agreed that tackling the green waste, especially by way of a rebate or voucher would have gone a long way toward reducing landfill tonnages.

"We believe waste is related to personal consumption and that if you make more waste you should pay for that personally, rather than your neighbours paying for that in on rates."

She said they were also unhappy with the consultation process.

"Locally owned and operated contractors were invited to a meeting to be told 'we'd have a chance to submit', but only after the submission document had gone out to the public."

She said as stakeholders they would have preferred to have been consulted first.

"We may have had great ideas that could have been included for the public to comment upon, but were simply excluded from all discussion before the brochure went to print."

Brosnan, said changes were made to the plan as a direct result of the submission by HB Waste Association.

"As a direct result of their submission, we choose not to enter the green waste market, which was what was proposed.

"Council was tasked with going out for a draft plan for consultation, we did that with the community and held a special consultation meeting for the local waste operators.

"Our communities needs are diverse and on balance we didn't adopt every view one group had."

She said she was very proud of the 55-point plan.

"I think it strikes the right balance between our responsibility to minimalist waste and also provide that service for our community."

She said the highlights were moving to a weekly recycling collection, with standard recycling bins provided by the council.

80 litre wheelie bins would be provided for rubbish collection, which is a reduction in the amount of rubbish people could put out each week, as currently Napier residents are allowed two 60-litre bags.

According to both Hastings and Napier Councils, new wheelie bins would be paid for through rates, replacing bags currently purchased by the user.

Changes to rubbish collection would come in at 2020, however, changes to recycling may be made earlier, due to influences such as the availability of markets to process recycling.