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| August 2002 |
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Paid Bags Idea Back
Full public consultation will occur before
any decisions are made about changing the
way Christchurch’s rubbish collection is paid
for, says City Council solid waste manager
Simon Collin. Last month, the City Council set its
budget for 2002/03 – the year from 1 July.
Part of that process
involved looking at later
years and indicating
likely changes. The
Council decided to ask
staff to investigate
changing to a “waster
pays” system for
kerbside rubbish from
July 2004 and
earmarked some
money for an
education and publicity
campaign on the issue. Mr Collin says using a system where
people can directly see how much it costs
to deal with rubbish would tie in with
Council and Government policies which aim
to cut down the amount of waste
generated and to encourage more recycling. At present in Christchurch the cost of
collecting and disposing of rubbish is
charged as part of the general rates bill.
Taking that cost out, by charging for rubbish
bags, has been shown to encourage people
to think more about what they throw away.
It leads to more separating out of material
that can be recycled or reused. Christchurch people will have plenty of
opportunities to learn about any changes
and to let the City Council know what they
think of this proposal, Mr Collin says. “Money’s been earmarked for the year from
July 2003 which would be used on an
extensive information and education
campaign if the Council does finally decide
to proceed with this
proposal.” If the scheme goes
ahead the last issue of
“free” rates-paid bags
would be May 2003, so
most people would
have to start buying
bags from May 2004. In a recent city
residents survey, two
thirds of those
questioned either
agreed or strongly
agreed with the statement, "I am willing to
pay for the waste I produce as long as the
kerbside recycling service is `free’." Mr Collin says Waitakere has had "waster
pays" for about three years. There, the
amount of domestic waste has shrunk by
almost 30 per cent. Northshore, Wellington, Upper Hutt,
Lower Hutt, and Waimakariri, have also
moved to separately funded waste systems,
and Dunedin has committed to move that
way from 1 July 2003. |