Kerbside waste and recycling are basic services for a modern, growing city. A combined service with economies of scale would be the most effective at reducing landfill waste, and likely the most cost-effective in the long run. It’s a bit complicated, so let me break it down in this very long post:

Council just voted against introducing kerbside recycling, turning down a $1.75M government grant that would’ve covered the set-up costs (along with the waste levy).

Yes, the status quo looks cheaper on paper. But in reality, it just kicks the can down the road, leaving ratepayers to deal with higher costs later.

The Council Annual Plan consultation offered just two options:

1. Kerbside recycling: $156/year (via rates)
2. Status quo (recycling centre only): $26/year (via rates)

This compares to recycling by private companies:

$102-$140/ year (the more expensive service not including glass)

Private recycling seems cheaper; however, remember that anyone who gets private recycling and pays rates is also contributing to the recycling centre (increasing the ‘household recycling’ cost to $128-$166 a year). The contribution of rates to the recycling centre would increase when higher capacity is needed soon.

Another comparison is Lower Hutt’s kerbside service: $130/year (targeted rate), which includes

• 120L or 240L bin – larger capacity for those who need it
• Full service, including glass
• Electric Trucks

I suspect that combining with Hutt City would likely have been the Council’s most effective and cheapest way to reduce landfill waste, but the Council didn’t want to collaborate with Hutt City and we never got the choice.

The biggest cost not mentioned in the consultation is the cost of extending or finding a new landfill – without a comprehensive kerbside service, we will be throwing away more recycling than we otherwise would have, filling the landfill up faster and loading a huge cost onto future residents.

Finally, there is an even bigger shocker of missed opportunity – the consultation never had the option of adding kerbside rubbish collection to a Council service, which could have saved residents quite a bit of money.

Below is a comparison of the Council-run rubbish service at Hutt City versus what we pay here commercially for the two companies (all figures / year):

• 240L – HCC $384 vs $533/$575 (max savings $191)
• 120L – HCC $192 vs 120L $390 or 140L $365 (max savings $198)
• 80L – HCC $128 vs $278/$320 (max savings $192)

Again, individual bags are even more expensive – one bag per week would come out to $455 a year (or $431 if you can afford 10 at a time). One bag per week is less than the capacity of the smallest bin.

The Council procuring a contract for 16,000 homes gives us all significantly more bargaining power than buying waste services as a single household. For these types of contracts, the price is usually fixed against CPI for the contract term. A properly designed competitive tender creates strong price competition at the initial procurement and renewal.

In summary, we could be getting cheaper and more efficient waste services now and save infrastructure costs in the long run. Our community deserve robust information, meaningful consultation and a mayor that thinks strategically about the long term. ENDS 

Thanks!

A “thank you” to Peri Zee, Mayoral candidate for sending this letter to The Upper Hutt Connection.

13/06/25