Auckland won’t be changing its weekly kerbside rubbish collection just yet after councillors voted to scrap a proposed trial of a fortnightly pick up.
By Torika Tokalau for Local Democracy Reporting
Parts of Clendon Park/Weymouth in the south, Te Atatū Peninsula in West Auckland and Panmure/Tāmaki were proposed to trial a fortnightly kerbside rubbish collection for six months.
The trial was to run from February 23 to August 30, costing up to $1.7 million, and would have affected about 12,150 households.
On Tuesday, the council’s Policy, Planning and Development Committee discussed for more than two hours the best way forward for the region in minimising waste.
They ended up voting against the trial, despite strong recommendation from Auckland Council staff to give the trial a go.
Committee chair Richard Hills said councils are required by law to have a Waste Management Plan to reduce waste in their regions.
The trial would have pushed council faster to its goal of reducing kerbside rubbish volumes by 29% per person by 2030.
A public consultation on the trial in October showed strong opposition from Aucklanders, with 78% of 5051 submitters not in favour of the trial.
Common themes for those that opposed the trial included worries about managing fuller bins, smells, hygiene and whether they would have enough bin space, particularly in big households.
Council's general manager of waste solutions, Justine Haves, said they acknowledged the submission results did not support the trial, and concerns raised were consistent with those raised during the Waste Plan 2024 consultation.
Haves had recommended that the committee proceed with the trial, to enable council to gain insights and data, and assess the benefits, challenges and service delivery realities to inform further advice on a potential region-wide approach.
She said their evidence showed moving kerbside collection to fortnightly was the most effective pathway to achieving kerbside waste target reduction.
“We anticipate and expect we have appropriate mitigations during the trial, but it's only when we do it that we can do this,“ Haves said.
Maungakiekie-Tāmaki councillor Josephine Bartley said the public voiced strong opposition to a fortnightly collection.
She said their decision to listen to Aucklanders would help rebuild trust.
“They were clear, they didn't want this. There's still a lot to be done on how to recycle, product stewardship, food recycling and food scraps – a lot more people need to buy into that before we make any move to fortnightly,“ Bartley said.
Manurewa-Papakura councillor Daniel Newman said the decision by council to vote down a proposed trial reflects the will of most Aucklanders who provided feedback.
“In my view, it is past time that the council abandons once and for all this fixation with fortnightly collections," Newman said.
"If the intention is to reduce collections to fortnightly as a means of squeezing households to compel greater uptake of the green food scraps bucket, that will be interpreted as a heavy-handed treatment of Aucklanders who ought to make decisions based on convenience rather than compulsion when it comes to handling their domestic rubbish.“
– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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