Wheelie bins roll out in Hamilton with kerbside collection set for August

The new wheelie bins are set to roll out on Hamilton streets this month with the collection service launching in August. Photo / Hamilton City Council

Hamiltonians can expect to see two new wheelie bins and a food waste bin on their doorsteps over the next two months, with the new kerbside service set to begin in August.

The three new bins will join the present blue crate in helping get rubbish bags off Hamilton's streets - and reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill.

The roll-out of the new bins was expected to happen in April, but was delayed by the Covid-19 lockdown. It will now start from June 3, with the new kerbside collection set to launch in August.

The new service will be a 120-litre wheeled bin for rubbish, a 240-litre wheeled bin for recycling, and a 45-litre crate for glass — all collected fortnightly. TA 20 to 30-litre food bin will be collected weekly. Leaflets will be delivered with the bins.

Infrastructure Operations General Manager Eeva-Liisa Wright says it's a big job delivering the new bins to almost 60,000 homes across Hamilton between now and mid-August.

"With more than 180,000 individual bins to be delivered, we'll be staggering the drop-off, suburb by suburb, one side of a street at a time, so don't worry if your neighbours opposite you get their bins first," says Wright, who adds that private lanes and retirement homes will receive bins closer to August 31.

"If others on your side of the street get a set of bins and you think you've been missed out – give it seven days before calling our friendly customer service team. All three bins should arrive at once, so if you're missing any, check with your neighbour first, in case they've been put there by mistake."

Hamilton News spoke to HCC compliance manager, Trent Fowles last year around the roll out of the new kerbside collection, with Fowles saying the council would work with residents to help store the bins.

"We understand the new bins are a change from the current household set-up, and that residents may need to think creatively about where to store them. We will provide more information and ideas about storage for multi-unit/high density housing areas nearer to the roll-out time," Fowles said

Residents who do not want to use the new service can choose not to use it, however they will still be rated for rubbish and recycling. There are private rubbish and recycling services available in Hamilton that residents can organise, however this will be at their own expense."

Residents had previously raised concerns about where the No. 3-7 plastics would go after being collected. Plastics 3-7 will be collected under the new kerbside collection, along with plastics 1 and 2.

"Our contractor will own these plastics after they are collected, and they are currently working on various solutions for reuse. There is already interest from various onshore companies who can reuse the plastic," Fowles said. However, this was prior to the Covid-19 outbreak, which may have affected the market.

As of today Hamiltonians can recycle again, with standard kerbside collections set to resume until the new collection service in August.

Kerbside recycling collections will resume for tins, cans and plastics 1-2, as well as glass. The first round of collections will be a day later than usual due to Queen's Birthday Monday, but will default back to the normal days the following week.

Paper and cardboard will still be collected, but these items are temporarily being sent to landfill due to ongoing market disruptions caused by Covid-19. Rubbish bags will continue to be collected as usual.

Under alert level 2, Hamilton residents are being asked to continue to remove lids and make sure they rinse glass, cans, tins and plastics 1-2 before placing them in their green crates, to help keep everyone safe. Doing this also ensures the items can be recycled rather than sent to landfill.

The Hamilton Organic Centre in Wickham St opened last week for drop-offs of glass, cans, tins and plastics 1-2.