As part of standardising council rubbish collections across the new ‘Supercity’, the Auckland Council are replacing prepaid rubbish bags with ‘pay-as-you-throw’ bins. This means you buy tags to go on your bins, and only put them out when they’re full.
West Auckland was the first to receive this service in 2017 and the tagged bins will be replacing prepaid bags in other parts of the city in 2018, beginning with the North Shore in March 2018. Pay-as-you-throw tagged bins will eventually also replace ‘free’ (rates-funded) rubbish bins across Auckland.
This is in line with the Council’s goal of ‘Zero Waste’ by 2040, which aims for zero waste going into Auckland landfills by 2040, through smarter recycling, reducing waste at the source, and finding new ways to recycle, reuse and repurpose waste. The areas of Auckland that already have disposer-pays rubbish collections contribute about a third less rubbish per person than the areas with rates-funded rubbish collections.
So whether you live in West Auckland, North, East, South or Central Auckland, this will affect you at some point.
The way the tags work is that you buy them at your local supermarket, dairy or petrol station. Then you attach them to your bin when it’s full and put it out on your kerbside as normal on rubbish day. The good news is, you only put your bin out and pay for collection when it’s full. Bins are also more secure and cleaner than bags.
So if you are smart about recycling, and if you compost your food waste, then you can save a lot by reducing the amount of waste that goes into your rubbish bin and how often it needs to be emptied. The council estimates that on average 50% of rubbish that goes into general rubbish bins is compostable. See also our article about council food waste bins being rolled out soon.
Watch this space, as we announce which areas will be next to receive the pay-as-you-throw service.
