The Constantly Increasing Cost of Rubbish Collection (Wellington)

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#3261401 19-Jul-2024 12:03

timmmay:

Annual renewal letter turned up. The increase was slightly less this year, 10% / $59. In the past 8 years there's been a 250% increase - from $215 to $625.

I think we're going to consider switching to https://wellingtonwheeliebins.co.nz/ and fortnightly collections for $380 per year.

Most of the costs are being driven by the waste levy and min wage increases,

8 years ago the Waste minimisation levy was $10 a tonne, and the minimum wage was $15.25
( it went to $20 in 2021, $30 in 2022, and $50 in 2023

from 1 July this year it's $60/tonne and the minimum wage is $23.15

The waste levy will increase by $5/tonne each year until 2027, when it will get to $75/tonne

https://budget.govt.nz/budget/pdfs/releases/l14a-factsheet-waste-levy-changes.pdf

https://environment.govt.nz/what-government-is-doing/areas-of-work/waste/waste-disposal-levy/expansion/

deadlyllama

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#3261403 19-Jul-2024 12:07

timmmay:

Annual renewal letter turned up. The increase was slightly less this year, 10% / $59. In the past 8 years there's been a 250% increase - from $215 to $625.

I think we're going to consider switching to https://wellingtonwheeliebins.co.nz/ and fortnightly collections for $380 per year.

Here in relatively small Whanganui we have three private bin companies, and actual competition! Everyone in our street has moved to Low Cost Bins. $400/year for weekly 120L.

wellygary

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#3261404 19-Jul-2024 12:22

deadlyllama:

Here in relatively small Whanganui we have three private bin companies, and actual competition! Everyone in our street has moved to Low Cost Bins. $400/year for weekly 120L.

That's because there is no council collection.... it means there is plenty of work to go around.....

in places where there is council collection, bin companies can position themselves as a "premium" service

Bung

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#3261410 19-Jul-2024 12:33

timmmay:
Annual renewal letter turned up. The increase was slightly less this year, 10% / $59. In the past 8 years there's been a 250% increase - from $215 to $625.

I think we're going to consider switching to https://wellingtonwheeliebins.co.nz/ and fortnightly collections for $380 per year.

What company was that? I looked at Waste Management who we used when we were in Wellington and their Web site shows ~$480 for general waste. Unless that is about to go up over $600 seems high

MikeAqua

7785 posts

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#3261417 19-Jul-2024 12:44

It's month one for our household in Marlborough's new rubbish system. We used to get bags for rubbish as part of our rates. I actually used to just hire a wheelie bin that was collected by Waste Mangement and use the bags for overflow (mostly saw dust from the workshop).

Now we pay fees for council wheelie bins, on top of our rates. No opt out option. The council charge me about twice as much as WM for a smaller bin, but they do also collect recycling. The council only do fortnightly rubbish collection. I had fortnightly with but they WM would collect on the off weeks if I called them and just add to my bill when I needed them to.

Two observations: -

(1) Our bin has gone uncollected twice in the first month.

(2) I put the waste management and the council bin (same colour) out one collection day and the council contractor collected both!

Mike

Behodar

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#3261420 19-Jul-2024 12:59

wellygary:

Most of the costs are being driven by the waste levy and min wage increases,

8 years ago the Waste minimisation levy was $10 a tonne, and the minimum wage was $15.25
( it went to $20 in 2021, $30 in 2022, and $50 in 2023

from 1 July this year it's $60/tonne and the minimum wage is $23.15

The waste levy will increase by $5/tonne each year until 2027, when it will get to $75/tonne

Speaking as someone in an area with council rubbish collection, this is one of the stupidest things I've read in some time (the MfE site, not your post).

So there's a levy to "reduce waste" and "encourage" recycling instead. This levy increases over time, making it more expensive to send things to landfill with the goal of reducing the amount of rubbish generated. OK so far. But then they go and charge it as part of rates, so the homeowner is forced to pay this ever-increasing levy regardless of how much stuff they're actually throwing out. How does that encourage waste reduction?!

cddt

1561 posts

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#3261428 19-Jul-2024 13:28

Checked my new rates in Auckland to see how much we pay...

Waste Management - Food Scraps Service $162.38
Waste Management - Minimum Base Charge $126.14
Waste Management - Refuse Standard $349.54
Waste Management - Standard Recycling $213.28

Total $851.34

And the madness is that there is no incentive to reduce waste - we use perhaps a quarter of our bin capacity as it is.

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timmmay

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#3261431 19-Jul-2024 13:35

Bung:
timmmay:
Annual renewal letter turned up. The increase was slightly less this year, 10% / $59. In the past 8 years there's been a 250% increase - from $215 to $625.

I think we're going to consider switching to https://wellingtonwheeliebins.co.nz/ and fortnightly collections for $380 per year.

What company was that? I looked at Waste Management who we used when we were in Wellington and their Web site shows ~$480 for general waste. Unless that is about to go up over $600 seems high

"Low Cost Bins". Waste management is about the same for our area.

Behodar

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#3261433 19-Jul-2024 13:36

cddt:

Total $851.34

Yikes! My local council doesn't itemise past "refuse removal rate" but it was $269 last year. This year's figures haven't been released yet.

timmmay

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#3261449 19-Jul-2024 14:35

wellygary:

re being driven by the waste levy and min wage increases,

8 years ago the Waste minimisation levy was $10 a tonne, and the minimum wage was $15.25
( it went to $20 in 2021, $30 in 2022, and $50 in 2023

from 1 July this year it's $60/tonne and the minimum wage is $23.15

The waste levy will increase by $5/tonne each year until 2027, when it will get to $75/tonne

With an average of about 50kg of rubbish the levy at its maximum would add less than $4 per week, but that will take it up to $195. If they calculate based on the maximum, and I think those bins could take 100kg plus, then yeah that could make a significant impact to the bill. Minimum wage probably has some effect too.

mattwnz

20164 posts

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#3261461 19-Jul-2024 15:32

IMO rubbish collection should be a core council service so consumers can get the benefit of bulk buying. It seems councils can get a far better deal from these collection companies and there is also lower admin costs involved for the collection company if it is contracted out. Instead my council does some limited recycling, cardboard and some plastic numbers and provides a huge bin for this. I have no trees in my garden but all the council trees on the street blow leaves into my drive and garden. They would fill several bins a week in winter if I didn't push them back into the gutter for the sweeper truck to sweep up. But green waste isn't permitted in a rubbish bin, you need a green bin for that, or compost bins, which I have but are full of council leaves. I remember the old days when the council provided the bins and it was easy. The current situation is a lot more costly for people and I think a lot of people end up dumping their rubbish

mattwnz

20164 posts

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#3261462 19-Jul-2024 15:37

deadlyllama:

timmmay:

Annual renewal letter turned up. The increase was slightly less this year, 10% / $59. In the past 8 years there's been a 250% increase - from $215 to $625.

I think we're going to consider switching to https://wellingtonwheeliebins.co.nz/ and fortnightly collections for $380 per year.

Here in relatively small Whanganui we have three private bin companies, and actual competition! Everyone in our street has moved to Low Cost Bins. $400/year for weekly 120L.

That sounds expensive. We pay less than $200 per year ($3.50 per week pickup) for one of the small 120 L bins. So doesn't sound like much competition in your area. That said, the company I use was a new company and their pricing was initially a lot cheaper than this and they have been rapidly increasing their pricing over the last few years.

allan

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#3261485 19-Jul-2024 16:52

Behodar:

wellygary:

Most of the costs are being driven by the waste levy and min wage increases,

8 years ago the Waste minimisation levy was $10 a tonne, and the minimum wage was $15.25
( it went to $20 in 2021, $30 in 2022, and $50 in 2023

from 1 July this year it's $60/tonne and the minimum wage is $23.15

The waste levy will increase by $5/tonne each year until 2027, when it will get to $75/tonne

Speaking as someone in an area with council rubbish collection, this is one of the stupidest things I've read in some time (the MfE site, not your post).

So there's a levy to "reduce waste" and "encourage" recycling instead. This levy increases over time, making it more expensive to send things to landfill with the goal of reducing the amount of rubbish generated. OK so far. But then they go and charge it as part of rates, so the homeowner is forced to pay this ever-increasing levy regardless of how much stuff they're actually throwing out. How does that encourage waste reduction?!

On a par with councils who decide to remove rubbish bins from public spaces to in order to minimise waste, thereby encouraging people to take their rubbish with them. Guess what councils? People don't!

Bung

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#3261547 19-Jul-2024 18:30

timmmay:

"Low Cost Bins". Waste management is about the same for our area.

That's odd, the same Wellington address I used to get the $480 odd price from Waste Management did return $625 from Low Cost. I can't explain that but can't see any reason to use a Low Cost company that isn't. I can't see with the allowed materials that most people would get past 30kg in a 240l bin.

timmmay

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#3261581 19-Jul-2024 19:52

Low Cost Bins is down right now as the NZPost post code locator is down. However, if I put 1 Johnsonville Rd into the Waste Management website it's $643.60 for 240L bin collected weekly. To compare, a random address a few suburbs over, 1 Agra Cres Khandallah, the same product costs $482.70. 10 mins drive and the price goes up $160.

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