Expanded Christchurch Kerbside Service

5 March 2008

Christchurch households will receive a three-bin kerbside domestic waste service next year following today’s decision by Councillors on the new service.

The new three-bin service will be progressively rolled out from early 2009 and include:

• A 80 litre wheelie bin for the weekly collection of organics
• A 240 litre wheelie bin for the fortnightly collection of recyclables
• A140 litre bin for the fortnightly collection of household rubbish

Mayor Bob Parker says the new service will allow all of us to contribute to the reuse of valuable materials and participate in making Christchurch a more sustainable city.

“The majority of what is currently put out in black rubbish bags is either recyclable or compostable. By providing a far more comprehensive kerbside collection service we can reduce by a third the amount of household waste going to landfill,” says Bob Parker.

“The current system is not sustainable environmentally or, given the rising costs of taking things to landfill and disposing of it, economically.

“Most households use kerbside recycling and in many crates are full to overflowing. Providing a wheelie bin for recyclable material will allow all clean plastic containers to be collected and recycled, not just plastics marked ‘1’ and ‘2’. It also means more paper and cardboard, items which have increased the most in recent years, will be recycled.

“Christchurch sends 73,000 tonnes of organic waste to landfill each year, resulting in the production of greenhouse gases and leachates. A more sustainable solution would be to use this material to produce compost.

“The new service represents a significant investment, however the cost of not acting now is far greater.  The new service is expected to reduce the amount of domestic waste going to landfill by 42,000 tonnes. This will result in less carbon emissions, about 2,000 fewer truck and trailer trips to Kate Valley every year, and most importantly, a more sustainable future,” says Bob Parker.

Bob Parker says economic and environmental factors informed the Council’s decision to adopt a third bin for the collection of household rubbish.

“All over the world wheelie bins have been proven to be the most cost effective system for kerbside collection. Using wheelie bins has significant health and safety advantages for collectors, reduces the incidence of roadside litter, and unlike user pays bags, eliminates any financial incentives to illegally dump rubbish or put it in the organic and recyclables bins,” says Bob Parker.

The expanded new service will cost the Council $24.2 million a year, which equates  to $174 a year for every property receiving the service. A targeted rate of $82 will be introduced to fund the collection of organic waste and recyclables, and general rates will fund the collection and disposal of rubbish.

The selected contractors for the waste minimisation contracts are:

• Transpacific Industries Group (TPIG) for the kerbside collection contract, , (TPIG own the Council’s current collector Waste Management Canterbury).
• Recover NZ (a subsidiary of Meta NZ) for the provision and operations of a materials recovery facility to process the recyclables collected.
• Living Earth Limited for the Design, Construction, and Operation of the organics processing facility to compost the organics collected

 The expanded service will be rolled out from February 2009.

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