Auckland eyes rubbish saving

By Simon Henedery

Auckland City Council could impose user-pays charges of up to $175 a year for household rubbish, saving itself $10 million a year.

The council hopes to reduce the city's rubbish pile by highlighting refuse costs in rates bills and linking the charge to the amount of waste a household throws out.

Under the proposed scheme, which could be introduced next July, homes that switched to smaller, 120-litre wheelie rubbish bins would pay $88 a year for collection.

Those who stuck with 240-litre bins would be charged $175.

The scheme still needs to be approved by the full council.

A council staff report to yesterday's works committee meeting says the scheme should cut the annual refuse collection and disposal bill from $15.5 million to $4.7 million.

The user-pays concept goes against the wishes of most submitters to the council's draft waste management plan. About 400 submitters said they opposed the idea, while 175 supported it.

While the wheelie-bin scheme has been criticised in the past, it received overwhelming support from the submitters, who believed it was a hygienic, animal-proof and tidy way to collect rubbish.

Works committee chairman Doug Astley said councillors rejected a suggestion to introduce smaller 80-litre bins at a cheaper rate.

However, the idea would be discussed again when the committee looked at options for central city rubbish collection.

The $88 annual charge for a 120-litre bin - equivalent to $1.70 a week - compares with $2 charged by the Waitakere City Council to collect two 60-litre rubbish bags, and $2.60 charged by the North Shore City Council.

Auckland City produces 380,000 tonnes of rubbish a year, about a quarter of it coming from households.