Sample Voucher

Next month (April) ratepayers will be sent a coupon that can be redeemed at supermarkets until the end of June.

The coupon can be redeemed for either two packs of 26 rubbish bags (the year’s allocation for each household) or one pack of 26, if that’s all that is needed for the year.

However, note that the coupon can only be used once.

The coupons have a bar code and property identification so the council can track them being posted and redeemed.

After June they can be redeemed at Council service centres.

Rental Properties
Landlords will be sent coupons for each rateable property, to the address recorded on the rate demand.

Their coupons will identify the bag allocation for each rateable property.

Where properties have more than one dwelling, coupons will need to be redeemed at either the local Council service centre or the Council’s Pages Road Store.

Landlords can either get bags to deliver to their tenants or coupons so tenants can collect their own bags from the supermarket.

Extra Bags
Residents will still be able to buy extra rubbish bags in packs of five at supermarkets or packs of five or 26 at Council service centres throughout the year.

Why the change? The change is necessary because of problems with the home delivery system. In one instance, certain citizens were reported to be following a delivery truck with a supermarket trolley "collecting" the recently delivered bags.

People claimed they hadn’t received their bags when in fact they had.

In some instances ratepayers in private lanes, back sections and flats, genuinely missed the deliveries.

Several methods have been trialled to reduce these problems but they’ve had mixed results.

Street and house flats, where every house was ticked off as bags were delivered, proved to be a huge job with no tangible gains.

Technical difficulties meant databases for tracking complaints were not completely successful.

Delivery to back doors or secure areas brought reductions in missed deliveries but added to distribution costs.

Remember
Ratepayers will receive their coupons in the mail and have until the end of June to exchange them for bags from their supermarket, or service centres after June. The new system is expected to reduce theft and fraud significantly. The postal system will allow residents to get 52 rubbish bags when they are needed and take away concerns about missing the bag delivery. Coupons can be used only once to collect the whole year’s allocation of 52 bags.