Households could choose wheelie bin sizes under proposed new system

Christchurch City Council wants residents to choose the size of their recycling, rubbish and organics bins, and only pay for what they use.

If the proposed system is implemented, it would mean residents wanting smaller wheelie bins would have a smaller charge for waste collection in their rates – while a household wanting larger bins would ultimately pay more.

Currently, Christchurch households all get the same wheelie bins – a small 80-litre green organics bin, a medium 140-litre red rubbish bin, and a large 240-litre yellow recycling bin.

It is not entirely clear how much this costs each household, though. While everyone pays $196.45 for their green and yellow bins to be collected and processed, the costs associated with the red bin vary based on a house’s rateable value.

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The new system would clear up cost confusion – as all costs for bin collection and management would be consolidated under one general rate.

For residents wanting to keep their bins the same size as they are currently, that rate would be set at $279 a year.

Downsizing each bin to the smallest possible would cost less – $227 annually – while getting all bins at the largest size would incur the highest possible cost – $472 annually.

For people wanting to upsize only the red bin (to the size of a current 240-litre yellow bin), the yearly cost would be $386. People wanting to do this just with the green organics bin would pay $365.

Christchurch City Council head of three waters and waste Helen Beaumont said people opting for smaller bins would pay less under this system because their bins held less material.

The council ultimately has to pay for rubbish disposal and processing of recycling and organics. The more material it has to dispose or process, the more it costs – hence why households with smaller bins will pay less.

Beaumont hoped offering a larger red bin to residents would help reduce recycling contamination – as people would have more space for their rubbish and would not resort to putting rubbish in the yellow bin.

An unprecedented number of recycling bins were filled with non-recyclable material following the March 2020 Covid-19 lockdown. Hundreds of bins have since been confiscated.

Beaumont said the council’s proposal for this new bin system stemmed from residents’ calls for more choice.

The system is only under consideration at this stage and the Christchurch City Council is giving residents the chance to make a public submission via its website.

More information about the proposed system will be made available during the implementation of next year’s annual plan – which is effectively a one-year budget for the city. It will be developed in early 2022 and adopted in June.

The council is currently working on a review of waste management in Christchurch.

The review, which is looking at whether there should be a separate glass recycling system (and potentially a fourth bin), is expected to be completed in March 2022, with its outcomes also being factored into next year’s annual plan.

Some proposed annual costs under new system:

• 80-litre green, 80-litre red, 80-litre yellow: $227
• 80-litre green, 140-litre red, 240-litre yellow: $279 (these are the current default sizes of the city’s bins)
• 240-litre green, 140-litre red, 240-litre yellow: $365
• 80-litre green, 240-litre red, 240-litre yellow: $386
• 240-litre green, 240-litre red, 240-litre yellow: $472