Recycling began in Whanganui in July 2024. Photo / Mike Tweed
Whanganui District Council is sticking with crates for its kerbside recycling, but nets could soon be used to help keep materials secure.
The service began in July last year, with each household in the network issued three 50-litre crates, for paper and cardboard, glass, and plastics and tin.
Council waste services manager Morgan Harrison said there were no plans to “change the methodology” of the service, and crates presented a low contamination rate.
“At our end, we are seeing 1% or 2% contamination when we do audits at Liffiton St (transfer station). It’s working really well.”
Harrison, previously the waste operations lead at New Plymouth District Council, said there had been a 25% contamination rate in its recycling wheelie bins.
“We would find all kinds of awful stuff, even a sawn-off shotgun.
“I think they have two full-time bin auditors going around and looking in people’s bins.
“Crates make sense, but then it gets windy.”
A council social media post last month recommended not filling crates past the top, using a brick to weigh material down, and only stacking crates two-high on windy days.
“If you only have a small amount of recycling to put out, please consider waiting till next week,” it said.
Harrison said the council would look at trialling a net system for the crates early in the new year.
“We’ve identified our problem streets, the ones that act like wind tunnels, so those would be the places to try [the nets] out for a few weeks.
“If it’s successful, and not too much of a burden on the contractor, then we’ll look at rolling it out.”
A council spokesperson said from July 1, 2024, to October 31 this year, 1837 tonnes of recyclable material had been collected.
For 2025/26, the service costs households around $3.12 a week. 2025/26.
Contractor Low Cost Bins did “a bloody good job” of collecting spilt materials within a certain radius of the crates, Harrison said.
“After that, if there is still a bit of stuff, you can call customer services and get the litter team out.
“But let the contractors get through first.”
Last week, the Chronicle reported that the Ombudsman had rejected a complaint by Whanganui residents Bill Simmonds and Barbara Gray, who said officers had included some rural residents in the kerbside recycling network without a mandate.
Harrison said in the lead-up to the council rolling out its kerbside food scraps service, which was cancelled in March following a 9-4 vote, officers “reviewed the composition” of general waste wheelie bins in some rural areas, including Otomatea and Papaiti.
“What was showing was these communities still had 27% or 28% of food waste in their bins, and also had really high amounts of recyclables.
“It suggested they would benefit from that (recycling) service.
“They have a service akin to a residential, urban property, which is a kerbside landfill bin, so it is not too different from what they are already getting. That’s the crux of it.”
Harrison said there were no plans for major changes to the recycling network.
But earlier this year, letters were dropped to residents living along “feeder routes” to villages in the network, such as Fordell and Mowhanau, because the trucks were already passing those houses.
“There was an application form to join, and they will pay the targeted rate like everyone else.”
She said the council’s waste plan was reviewed every six years, and pre-consultation had begun.
“Landfills are really hard to consent, and we are rapidly running out of them in the North Island.
“Does council get into the game of (landfill) waste collection, like 90% of the other councils in the country?
“There is a whole raft of things open for discussion.”
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 Whanganui District Council.