Whanganui’s food waste collection service pulled at last minute

Despite the council cancelling the service, rating households will still need to pay $17 per year due to sunk costs. Photo / 123rf

Whanganui’s food waste collection service is no more but cancelling the service will still cost ratepayers.

An extraordinary meeting at the Whanganui District Council, stretching over two hours, ended with a nine-four vote in favour of scrapping the service that was due to start on July 1.

Whanganui Mayor Andrew Tripe, Deputy Mayor Helen Craig and councillors Rob Vinsen, Michael Law, Jenny Duncan, Philippa-Baker Hogan, Charlie Anderson, Ross Fallen and Glenda Brown voted in favour of ending it.

Councillors Charlotte Melser, Peter Oskam, Josh Chandulal-Mackay and Kate Joblin voted against the proposal.

The decision follows a Government policy reversal on December 18 last year, ending a mandate to have the service in place by 2027.

Going ahead with the service would have cost rating households around $80 (including GST) a year.

Due to sunk costs, there will be a charge of around $17 a year without the service.

A report from council chief executive David Langford said an opt-in service was not viable due to uncertain uptake.

“Due to the rigidity of the rate-setting processes, the council cannot easily adjust its prices to account for customer demand like a private company can and there is significant financial risk,” it said.

“The cost would likely be significantly higher per user due to a smaller customer base. For example, private providers in Whanganui currently offer the service for $312 per year.”

Tripe said the service would come with an additional 1.2% on rates for 2025/26 – “no small number”.

“Many people already compost and those who don’t can use local composting companies like Easy Earth,” he said.

“I think everyone around the table would agree that composting is a good thing but education and promotion are better options than the kerbside collection service.”

Chandulal-Mackay said of the councillors present for a 2022 decision on the service, only Anderson and Baker-Hogan had voted against it.

“At the time, there had only been a signal that a government mandate would be introduced. There was no mandate at that point.

“This service was about the [2021 council] waste plan, not about a mandate,” he said.

The plan aims to divert 15,000 tonnes of waste from landfill by 2027.

Chandulal-Mackay said the majority of councillors voted in favour of the service at a workshop last November and no elected member suggested reversing the course at another on February 11 this year.

Primarily, posts on Whanganui Facebook groups had driven the council back to the table to make a decision, he said.

Law said he had suggested another debate on the issue on February 11.

“That’s fair enough. I can accept that,” Chandulal-Mackay said.

Craig said information provided in the officers’ report for the meeting was “hugely critical” in helping her make a decision.

“A food scraps kerbside collection, overall, will cost $1650 per tonne of carbon saved,” she said.

“Versus, $120 for the same effect – planting trees.

“We must get the best bang for our buck because it is ratepayer buck.”

Whanganui District Council chief executive David Langford says council staff have been subjected to abuse from members of the public about the prospect of a food waste collection service. Photo / NZME

Langford’s report said approximately 65ha of land could be planted with forestry for the equivalent annual cost of the food scraps service.

“Based on 6.5 tonnes of carbon sequestration per year over a 30-year period, native forest restoration projects would have a cost of circa $110-$120 per tonne of CO2,” it said.

Melser said planting trees and waste diversion could both be achieved.

“Ultimately, we need to be reducing carbon and sequestering it. It’s not one or the other.”

While the food scraps service was voted down, an amendment from Melser to broaden the scope of waste minimisation education and investigate opportunities to partner with the community to encourage home composting was signed off unanimously.

Council officers’ recommendation at Monday’s meeting was to cancel the service.

Langford said the change of Government policy and the possibility of finding more cost-effective ways to reduce carbon emissions were factors.

There was also a health and safety consideration, with council staff subjected to a lot of abuse from the members of the community about potentially going ahead with the service, he said.

Joblin said that begged the question of how “the vocal, abusive minority” could influence decisions and recommendations in the future.

Langford’s report said the contractor, Low Cost Bins, was a local company that wanted to ensure value for money.

“As such, they have confirmed that they are willing to work with the council to cancel the food scraps service,” it said.

“They do not intend to seek legal/contractual claims for lost profit so long as their actual, unrecoverable sunk costs are paid by the council.”

The main sunk costs were three trucks, three specialised waste collection truck bodies and a partial production run of 23-litre kerbside bins and kitchen caddies.

There would have been 19,000 bins and caddies if the service went ahead.

Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.