Background

As part of Wairoa District Councils Waste Minimisation Strategies changes are being proposed to the current kerbside Collection Services provided to Residential properties. Council is preparing a range of options for delivery of the new kerbside collection model which includes replacing the current user pays rubbish bags with wheelie bins and expanding kerbside collection to include food scraps and garden organics (green waste). These changes are proposed to take effect from 2026.

Any changes to existing Kerbside rubbish and recycling collection services will have an impact on rates. These are outlined below.

Option 1 - Business as usual

Our existing kerbside collection service for rubbish and recycling continues with no additional services added.

Cost: $3,044,000 split over 3 years (Operating)

	Operating
2024/25	$995,545
2025/26	$1,035,442
2026/27	$1,012,232

Impact on rates: No impact as already budgeted for

Impact on debt: No impact as no increase in expenditure

Option 2 - Introduction of a new Kerbside Collection model including food waste and garden organic collections - Preferred Option

A new kerbside collection for weekly food and garden organics, fortnightly refuse, and recycling, with the introduction of wheelie bins to replace the current purchased bags. This service would initially be rolled out to Wairoa urban, Frasertown and Māhia areas with a potential future stage to extend to rural areas across the district.

This option provides increased diversion of waste from landfill, increased level of service in terms of services offered to residents, improved health and safety of collections through reduced manual handling for our staff.

This option requires council purchasing additional recycling bins for distribution to all residential properties for separation of glass, paper and plastic and organic waste.

Funding to support the roll-out of services is available via the Waste Minimisation Fund (Ministry of the Environment) which will cover up to $298K of the capital costs of the new service.

Cost: $3,427,327split over 3 years

	Capital	Operating
2024/25	$857,278	-
2025/26	$970,000	$1,766,392
2026/27	-	$1,660,935

Impact on rates: $1,379,653

Impact on debt: $1,023,639