Inorganic Rubbish Collection

What’s changed?

The council now provides a pre-paid inorganic rubbish collection service and will collect only from inside your property.

When do collections start and when should I book?

Collections start at the beginning of February and run through to the end of June each year. Different suburbs are collected in each of those months and each street is allocated a collection date within those months.

The table below is indicative only.  The collection dates have not been set for the service in 2010.  Please check again in December 2009 for your collection date.

Bookings made on-line or paid in cash at the counter can be done one whole week before the beginning of the collection week. However, customers paying by cheque have to book two whole weeks before the beginning of the collection week to allow time for cheques to clear.

How will it work?

You book and pay for the service in advance and we collect your inorganic rubbish from inside your property. Here's how it works.

1. You check the schedule to see what month the inorganic rubbish collection service is in your suburb and/or enter your address to find out the collection date that as been allocated to your property and what the booking cut-off day is.
2. Bookings made on-line or paid in cash at the counter must be done at least one whole week before the beginning of your collection week. However, customers paying by cheque have to book at least two whole weeks before the beginning of the collection week to allow time for cheques to clear.
3. When you book, you will be given a receipt confirming the date on which your inorganic rubbish will be collected.
4. We will send you a reminder in advance of your collection if an email address is provided with your booking.
5. You place your inorganic rubbish inside your gate, on or close to your driveway, before 7.30am on your collection day.
6. We will come to collect your inorganic rubbish and the job is done.

If for any reason we can't collect your inorganic rubbish on your allocated collection date, we will call you and arrange another time.

We strongly recommend that you be at home on your collection day, if at all possible. Please ensure dogs are restrained.

As always, the inorganic rubbish collection is provided for the disposal of household furniture, toys and appliances, domestic gardening and outdoor leisure equipment and metal items from household renovations.

You may put out a maximum one cubic metre (about two car boots full) of inorganic rubbish.

Don't put inorganic rubbish on the kerb - it will attract a $400 fine

Two key reasons for making this change are to stop unsightly and dangerous rubbish piles on kerbs and people from outside the city illegally dumping their rubbish here at ratepayer expense.

To prevent these problems, we are now collecting inorganic rubbish from inside your property. Dumping inorganic rubbish on the kerb is now illegal and will attract a $400 fine.

The Booking System

When bookings start for the 2010 year you can book one of two ways:

1. Online: The cost is $11.25 (including GST).

or

2. At the Council:  You can also reach Waitakere Central by walking across the airbridge from Railside Avenue or the Henderson railway station.

You will be assisted to make your booking and pay the $11.25 fee. The counter has facilities for cash, cheque and EFTPOS payment.

There are no postal or phone bookings and no refunds.

Confirmation of your booking and the date of collection will be provided in a printable receipt form if you pay online, or will be issued when you pay at the counter.

Booking ahead

Bookings made on-line or paid in cash at the counter can be done one whole week before the beginning of the collection week. However, customers paying by cheque have to book two whole weeks before the beginning of the collection week to allow time for cheques to clear.

Placement of your inorganic pile

The inorganic pile must be placed INSIDE your private residential property and the following guidelines must be adhered to:

• Pile is easily accessible from the driveway
• Pile is close to entry point of property (as collection vehicles will be of varying dimensions)
• Any dogs are tied up
• Gates are unlocked
• No vehicles are left in the driveway
• No obstructions are present - e.g. boats, caravans
• There is a clear passage for trolley use
• The pile is a maximum of 10m from the vehicle access point
• All material to be collected is outside (i.e. not inside the garage)
• All material must be placed at the front of the section, not the rear
• The pile must be easily identifiable as the pile to be collected
• The pile must not include any items that are not collected in inorganic collections - see info

If the customer does not have an accessible area on their private property they will not be able to use this service and should bring their inorganic rubbish to Waitakere's Refuse and Recycling Transfer Station. Gate rates apply for disposal of some items.

What was the reason for the change?

The inorganic collection system has been changed because:

1. The law requires us to encourage waste reduction
2. The old system was inefficient, unsightly and dangerous
3. The old system made illegal dumping and commercial scavenging possible at the ratepayers' expense.

Changes were made to the inorganic collection service following submissions to, and deliberations on, the council's 2008 Long term Council Community Plan (LTCCP).

Key motivations for change were the mess and health and safety risks created by the previous service and the ability it created for businesses and people from outside the city to freeload on Waitakere ratepayers by dumping their materials in the city.

More than 85 percent of litter infringement notices issued in the first six months of 2008 were in relation to illegal dumping of inorganic rubbish.

The new service is consistent with the intent of the Waste Minimisation Act 2008. 'Product Stewardship' is a key feature of this Act - encouraging manufacturers to acknowledge the quality and reusability of the products they sell and take some responsibility for their entire lifecycle, from manufacture to disposal. The aim is to encourage the manufacture of products that can be re-used when they no longer wanted or working, rather than being simply sent to landfill.

The new user pays service also makes households more responsible for the amount of waste they create and gives them control over how much they spend on waste disposal. The less waste they create, the less it costs. This means that people who generate little or no waste have smaller costs than those who create a lot of waste.

Collection information

What do we collect
What we don't collect

We do collect

• Furniture (chairs, tables, cabinets, etc.)
• Lawn mowers, wheelbarrows
• Computers, TVs
• Carpets
• Toys
• Metal items from your household renovations (corrugated iron, pipes, etc.)
• Appliances (washing machines, stoves, fridges)
• Outdoor furniture and leisure equipment

We don't collect

• Any bagged rubbish
• Gas bottles
• Garden waste, tree trimmings and soil
• Commercial and farming waste
• Bricks and broken concrete
• Glass, small loose items
• Oil, paint and chemicals
• Fibrolite / asbestos
• Polystyrene
• Car bodies and tyres
• Builder or trade waste
• Household renovation materials (excluding metals)
• Anything that cannot be lifted by two people
• Quantities in excess of 1m3

Contact us for more information and advice.

See also our services for:

• Green waste
• hazardous materials
• Resource Recovery Centre

Thank you for your co-operation in helping keep your street clean and safe!

Q&As

Didn't it save the council money when people were able to scavenge through other people's rubbish?

No! It added to the costs and risks. Commercial scavengers were illegally removing items of value that had been assisting the council to keep the collection costs low.

Scavengers scattered tidy rubbish piles and smashed up inorganic material, making it more expensive for our contractors to collect.

There were considerable OSH risks as a result of the mess left by scavengers. In 2007 our contractors experienced three medical terminations resulting from inorganic collections. These staff will not work again.

Won't this new system encourage dumping?

New Zealand's new waste legislation is about making people responsible for their waste. Our system assists with this. Whilst we expect some illegal dumping, the volume will be significantly lower than under the old inorganic collection system.

The council has increased surveillance and will be taking legal action against illegal dumpers.

We already pay for rubbish bags, now we are expected to pay for this as well?

Yes. The user pays system is fairer, as many people (more than 30% of households) did not use the inorganic collection service and used to subsidise the people that put out large volumes of rubbish. User pays for waste disposal is consistent with central government's strategy for waste minimisation.

How is the collection paid for?

A mix of user charge, rates and the sale of materials, such as metals, recovered from the inorganic collection.

Why haven't my rates decreased by the same amount if I have to pay for my inorganic collection?

The savings for this service have been recognised in your rates. However, overall, your rates have not increased as much as they would have without this change.

Also, not every ratepayer uses the inorganic collection, so up until now they have been subsidising your collection. The new user pays collection is seen as a fairer service and this method is encouraged by national guidelines to promote waste reduction.

Why doesn't Waitakere just offer vouchers (free trailer passes)?

This would be inconsistent with the central government's waste reduction initiatives. No other councils in the Auckland region provide free trailer passes for residents' inorganic rubbish either.

What should I do if I see someone trespassing on my land and tampering with my inorganic rubbish?

Note the description of the offender and the details of their vehicle (make, model, colour, licence plate, etc) and call the Police.

Can I pay for two collections at my house and put twice as much?

No. The service allows for one inorganic collection per rateable property, per year, and the user charge does not cover the full cost of the collection.

We have two houses on our property, can we have two inorganic pick ups?

Again, there is only one inorganic collection per rateable property, so if you have a minor household and a main dwelling but are only charged for one lot of rates, you are only entitled to one inorganic collection.

My driveway is inaccessible. Can I pay my neighbour to have it collected from their house with their permission?

If your neighbour is not planning to put out any inorganic themselves (as we will only collect one pile of inorganic rubbish per property) and is willing to book a collection on your behalf for their property, then that would be acceptable.

I live in an apartment and don't have a section, where can I leave my inorganic pile?

The inorganic pile can be left in a common area providing the customer has permission from their body corporate and the common area is on private land and accessible to the contractor.

Alternatively you could bring your inorganic to the Waitakere Refuse and Recycling Transfer Station. Gate rates apply for disposal of some items.

I have nowhere on my section to put the inorganic pile. What can I do?

Sorry, this service is unavailable to people who do not have a suitable area on their property to leave the inorganic pile. You could bring your inorganic rubbish to the Waitakere Refuse and Recycling Transfer Station. Gate rates apply for disposal of some items.

Why can't we pay for this service over the phone?

Paying over the phone requires greater administration and the carrying of a small value debtor's ledger, making it uneconomical. The required method of payment is no different to that used to renew your car registration.

I have booked a collection but can't remember when it is. How can I check?

You can check the information yourself online. Online customers are also sent an automatic email reminder prior to collection.

The contractor has left some rubbish behind. What should I do?

Check to see whether the rubbish is yours, as someone may have dumped rubbish on your property after the contractor had collected your rubbish.

Check whether the inorganic rubbish left behind is non-conforming, e.g. hazardous waste, car tyres, gas bottles, etc.

Was the volume placed out for collection in excess of the permissible one cubic metre? If so, the contractor will only remove one cubic metre of rubbish and leave the rest.

If I have read the Q&As and still have some questions. Who can I talk to?

Please phone the council on (09) 839 0419 (24 hours, 7 days a week) for further information on the inorganic collection service or visit the council's customer services counter.