Whangarei District Council apologises after publishing wrong dates for extra collections

Rubbish and recycling wait to be collected at Matapouri between Christmas and New Year. Photo/Michael Cunningham

Coastal Whangarei residents who were left frustrated after their second rubbish collection between Christmas and New Year was not picked up, have been offered an apology.

Whangarei District Council apologised to residents on Facebook after the wrong start date for extra collections on the coast was publicised.

When the council initially published its holiday rubbish and recycling collection changes, it said extra coastal collections would start on Boxing Day and continue until February 10.

The notice said Northern Coast areas would have their usual pick up on Monday and a second collection on Friday in beach areas.

Meanwhile, Bream Bay coast residents would have their usual collection on Tuesday and a second collection on Saturday in beach areas.

But comments started on the council's Facebook page on Saturday, from residents at Ruakaka, Tutukaka, One Tree Pt and Whangarei Heads saying the extra collection on the 29th and 30th did not happen.

As a result, rubbish sat piled up for several days waiting to be picked up.

An apology, revealing the collections were only planned to start this week, was first posted in the comments section of two posts on the council's Facebook page on Wednesday.

"We would like to apologise for the error in the starting date for extra coastal rubbish collections. The extra collections start week beginning 1 January [this week], not 26 December."

"Our contractor is currently working hard to clear any build-up of rubbish and recycling. Please try to stick to the one recycling bin if you can, otherwise it's going to take a lot longer to clear any backlog."

Earlier in the holiday break Christmas Day caused some confusion for urban collection, with many rubbish bags and recycling bins put out on kerbsides on their usual day, rather than a day later as scheduled.

Contractors had Christmas Day off, so each of the collection days were put back a day, and those usually collected on Friday were collected on Saturday, December 30.

Council spokeswoman Ann Midson said rubbish had not been collected on Christmas Day.