From October 31, the Whangarei District Council is switching to a user-pays system for rubbish dumping and collection, and will be trucking waste to Auckland.
Whangarei's Pohe Island landfill will close. The council says it's full and doesn't meet today's environmental standards. However, it will still take clean fill for $6
a tonne.
A new transfer station - or "resource recovery centre" in the new jargon - will open on Kioreora Rd. From there, rubbish will be trucked down to Redvale, near Auckland, for the next five years. The council says it would cost $10 million to build a new dump on land earmarked at Puwera, near Portland.
Charges will be brought in at manned transfer stations at Uretiti, Tauraroa, Kokopu, Hikurangi, Ngunguru, Oakura, Ruatangata and Parua Bay. All other rural transfer stations will close, but Pipiwai's has a temporary reprieve.
Transfer station charges will go up to $1.40 per bag, $7 a car, $16 a ute/van/trailer, or $90 a tonne for trucks. The old charges at Pohe Island were $1 a car, $4 a trailer and $50 a tonne, while dumping at rural stations was free.
From Monday October 31, all rubbish put out for collection must be in a council bag or carry a council sticker. Both cost $1.40 and should be on sale at dairies, service stations and supermarkets.
The council hopes the charges will encourage people to recycle and compost more of their rubbish.
Rubbish collection day is unchanged in most areas. The exceptions are SH14 from Austin Rd west, Mangakahia Rd, Otaika Valley Rd, Loop Rd and all side roads; plus SH1 from Toetoe Rd to Portland intersection, Portland Rd and village, where collection day changes from Wednesday to Thursday.
Collection routes have been expanded to cover more rural areas. Go to www.wdc.govt.nz or call 430-4200 for a map to see if your area is covered.
Recycling will still be free.
Ratepayers will still pay an annual charge of $100 for services like street cleaning, emptying public bins, hazardous waste collections, etc. Currently most households pay $78.
