Source: Radio New Zealand
About 80 percent of written submissions were against the a proposed trial to halve the number of kerbside collections in Te Atatū, Panmure, Tāmaki, Clendon Park and Weymouth. Supplied / Auckland Council
Aucklanders are overwhelmingly against a plan to trial fortnightly rubbish collections.
Auckland Council received 5086 submissions on a proposed trial to halve the number of kerbside collections in Te Atatū, Panmure, Tāmaki, Clendon Park and Weymouth from February to August.
About 80 percent of written submissions were against the trial.
Auckland Council’s general manager of waste solutions, Justine Haves, said there were some common themes.
They included worries about managing fuller bins, smells, hygiene and whether they would have enough bin space, particularly in big households.
The council had ideas about to help, he said.
“If the trial goes ahead, we will offer additional and larger bins at no cost, support households with higher waste needs, and provide a one-off rates remission for participating ratepayers,” he said
There was some positive feedback.
“Supporters highlighted the need to reduce waste to landfill and the opportunity to test the service before any wider decisions are made,” he said.
“Some also noted they don’t produce enough rubbish to need a weekly collection,”
The trial was part of a plan by the council to reduce household kerbside waste by 29 percent by 2030.
There were 2377 written submissions from the trial area, with another 2090 from other places.
About 5 percent of people made face-to-face submissions, with those people more likely to be evenly split.
A decision on whether to go ahead would be made next month.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand