Residents pay less in price war over trash

A rubbish  war has broken out in the Far North with two companies fighting for your kerbside rubbish bags and recycling.
The Far North is unusual in that the council doesn't offer kerbside rubbish collection. For the past 17 years, Kaikohe-based Waste Works has run a private service, picking up pre-paid bags once a week in town and along main roads in rural areas.
However, Waipapa-based East West Waste is now offering a strikingly similar service, which started  at the lower price of $2.30 a bag instead of $3.
Waste Works owner Warwick Taylor is fighting back  by dropping his price to $2.20.
"It's a price war," he said. "A multinational is bullying its way into the market, trying to push out the local boy. We'll just wait and see whether the community supports us or the multinational."
East West Waste is owned by Australia-based  Transpacific Industries (TPI) which
 won a council contract previously held by Waste Works to operate the district's transfer stations from October 1 - but that's separate from privately run kerbside collections.
Mr Taylor says Waste Works has no plans to give up its kerbside rubbish and recycling service or its wheelie and commercial bin services.
The Bay Report's inquiries to East West Waste were referred to TPI's Auckland office. Northern region manager Kevin Bonniface declined to  say if the company planned to drop its prices in response, but said it would  stay competitive. "TPI has been competing in this market through East West Waste for a number of years and will continue to do so into the future."
Having two competing rubbish services is confusing  some  residents. Others, such as Kerikeri Outdoor Shop owner Alan Morton, wonder who will get their hands on the valuable cardboard left out on recycling day. "How are we going to determine which company picks it up when it's all stacked up outside the shops?" he said. "Will it be a race with the cardboard going to whoever gets there first?"
Mr Morton said he wanted  his cardboard to go to Waste Works because he's keen to back a Far North  business which  supported the community.
He also questioned the environmental sense of having two sets of rubbish trucks from two companies on  the same routes.
Mr Taylor has told  his workers to follow customers' wishes by picking up cardboard stacked next to Waste Works bags, and leaving any put next to East West Waste bags.
 * On October 1 the Far North District Council switched its waste contract from Waste Works to Trans-Pacific Industries, but that contract only covers running council-owned transfer stations at Kaikohe, Whangae, White Hills and Opononi, and trucking the waste to landfills.
THE COSTS
* Pre-paid rubbish bag/sticker (up to 65 litres or 13kg): Waste Works $2.20, East West Waste $2.30
* Pre-paid recycling bag: Waste Works $1.20, East West Waste $1.30. East West Waste also offers a five-pack of 60-litre recycling crate tags for $6.50, which  works out at $1.30 a time, and yearly/six-monthly subscriptions for $60 and $35. Crates are now  being delivered throughout the Far North.
* Paper/cardboard: No charge by either company if bundled up and left out on the appointed day.