Delivery of wheelie bins for Rotorua's new kerbside rubbish and recycling service begins this week.
The Rotorua Lakes Council said on their website today the public were reminded to keep using the paper rubbish bags until the new service started at the end of October.
Information booklets which include collection days and other details will be delivered with the bins.
Two bins - one for rubbish and a larger bin for recycling - plus a crate for glass will be delivered to residential properties in the city.
Both bins and crate may not be delivered at the same time and due to the logistics of the delivery, residents on one side of the street/road could receive their delivery before the other.
The bin for rubbish is about the size of two paper rubbish bags.
Find out all about the new service here.
The council reminds the public to "wash and squash" recyclables to fit more into your recycling bin and you will also still be able to use the city recycling centre.
General rubbish will be collected weekly and recycling will be collected fortnightly, so every second week you will put out your rubbish plus recycling.
Services in lakes and rural communities will be different and have been worked through with those residents.
The council decided to introduce the new service as part of a review of the district waste strategy and with the current fleet of rubbish trucks due for replacement, it was a good time to review services and consider a more efficient, modern service.
The Rotorua Lakes Council released a list of reasons for the change:
- Increase the amount of recycling by making it easy to sort your waste and meet community demand for kerbside recycling. An immediate, significant increase in recycling is expected.
- Reduce the amount of rubbish going to landfill and associated environmental risks.
- Reduce the cost of services - this new service will provide an initial annual saving of approximately $500,000 compared with the current council-run service. Rotorua is one of the few districts still using paper bags so the cost of buying those has increased.
- Reduce health and safety risks and injury rates associated with the current, largely manual collection service. Last year a staff member suffered a serious injury which led to amputation after a vehicle drove into the back of a rubbish truck.