Rubbish disposal fees to soar

WAIRARAPA'S rubbish will be somebody else's problem from October 1, but the price of disposing of it will rise about 50 per cent.
The two remaining landfills in Wairarapa will close from October 1, and rubbish will be trucked to Rangitikei each day.
Resource consents for Masterton and Martinborough landfills have expired, and the sites will be converted to transfer stations, as happened in Carterton in 2002.
The decision was made by Waste Management Wairarapa, a committee of representatives from the three district councils, which found that trucking rubbish out of the region was the most effective solution.
Wairarapa councils will now all pay the same amount, $120 a tonne, to dispose of rubbish.
This compares with the current price of $78 a tonne in Masterton, for example.
Waste minimisation officer Peter Ruddock said the intention is to have the same general prices across Wairarapa, but Masterton has yet to finalise its prices.
Carterton and South Wairarapa are charging $10 each for a car boot-load of rubbish, $20 for a trailer or ute up to a certain size, and $120 a tonne for beyond that.
South Wairarapa also has a separate charge of $60 for a large trailer or medium truck under two tonnes, while Masterton has a separate price for a van or medium trailer up to 2.4m long.
Prices for all council rubbish bags will also increase.
Two 30-tonne trucks a day, six days a week, will be needed to cart the rubbish away.
Waste Management Wairarapa chairman Michael Blundell says people should consider how to recycle as much as possible to reduce the cost of trucking rubbish away and avoid increasing the load.
Mr Ruddock said the Masterton landfill area was now closed to general rubbish but was "still accepting rubbles and soils and stuff like that ? to turn it back to a nice looking hill at the end".
Mr Ruddock has been Wairarapa's waste minimisation officer since November, when he came here from Britain, and will finish up in the job today.
A qualified electrical engineer, Mr Ruddock will be working at Harvest Electronics in Masterton.
His job has involved encouraging people to recycle, including visits to schools.
The position is being re-examined by the district councils now that the trucking out solution has been found.
Mr Ruddock might be leaving his official position, but he will still be involved in environmental issues, through the voluntary group Sustainable Wairarapa.
This group is a lobby or educational group that asks decision-makers, "Can we do these things in a better way, a more sustainable way?"
Issues include energy efficient homes, and the sizes of waste disposal containers.
"We have huge big wheely bins and little wee recycling bins. Couldn't we have huge big recycling bins and little wee wheely bins?" Mr Ruddock asks.
Masterton District Council is still negotiating with wheely bin companies on prices for rubbish disposal.
The rubbish from wheely bin companies may be needed for Wairarapa to be able to dispose of rubbish at the tonnage price they are targeting, but this will be balanced against the expense for those companies of finding other arrangements.