New Kerbside Service - July 2023

2023-2024 Calendar 1 (PDF, 185KB)

• Along with the rest of New Zealand we are having to look for better ways to manage our waste and make better use of the resources we have. It is becoming less and less acceptable to send everything to landfill and expect our waste problems to just disappear.
• Prior to the new service starting 1 July 2023, from our sampling of red bins throughout the district we found nearly half of the contents was either food scraps or greenwaste, so when we asked for waste companies to tender for this year's new contract, we asked them for a solution for this.
• We had also been hearing for some time from residents who have lived in other parts of the country that have green bins, that these would be a great idea!
• Finding a better option for almost half of the red bin contents allows us to follow best practice in waste management and provide smaller general waste red bins. The new red bins are 140L in size, so about 1½ bin bags smaller than the current bin.
• We have heard feedback from residents that the glass collection service at 8-weekly intervals is too infrequent so have made it a monthly collection. The other change with this is that the yellow bin will not be missed on this collection week, as it had been previously.
• Your guide to Central Otago's new kerbside collection - click here for the booklet.
• For the Central App podcast by Solid Waste Team Leader Lauren Hunter summarising the changes click here.

• Our new kerbside collection service has been expanded to four bins – a new green lidded bin to collect food scraps from the kitchen and greenwaste from the garden is being added.
• At the same time the red bin has been replaced with a smaller 140L bin.
• A bin latch is fastened to the yellow bin to help keep the lid closed on windy days.
• The blue glass bin is being collected more frequently, every four weeks.

This has involved three key changes to our new kerbside collection services, which began 1 July; you will have been delivered your new bin configuration. To do this, three things happened:

1. Lid change - the lid on your existing 240L red bin was changed to a green lid.

2. New bin - a new 140L red bin will have been delivered.

3. New clip - a bin clip will have been installed on your yellow bin.

• With the green bin collection underway from the beginning of July, the green bin contents are going to the Redruth composting facility in Timaru. This has allowed us to deal with organic waste from Day 1 of our new contract. We wanted to introduce a green bin collection but thought we would have to wait two to three years until a new organics processing facility in Central Otago was built.
• It’s still the aim to have our own facility in Central Otago, but in the meantime we can get our organic waste (food scraps and green waste) composted in Timaru. Carting our organic waste to Timaru in diesel trucks isn’t ideal, but the reduction in landfill costs for all of us, as well as the lowering of landfill methane production for the next 2-3 years offsets that.
• The organics collection will be commercially composted. This means that the compost will get to very high temperatures, which can destroy noxious weed seeds and pathogens. Once the compost is made, we will have it available for purchase at our transfer stations, and our Parks team will use it on our parks and reserves throughout the district.

We understand that the introduction of a smaller red bin may present some challenges, however, throwing away valuable resources at an increasing cost to us and the planet is not sustainable.

If you can get all your food waste – and by this we don’t just be leftover food you don’t eat, but unavoidable food waste, like onion skins, banana peel, orange peel, teabags, corn cobs – into your green bin you might find you have more space than you expect in your 140L red bin.

To encourage everyone to try the new smaller red bin, there will be a three-month “settling-in period” during which residential properties cannot upsize the red bin. After this period ends on 1 October 2023, residential properties who feel they need a larger red bin will be able to apply on the CODC website.