FROM THE EDITOR

Auckland Council’s new waste collection system stinks.

In the near future we will all have to purchase prepaid tickets for our general waste to be collected from the kerb.

While we will be prepaying for general waste, the cost of recycling and organic waste will be paid through our rates.

Council, in my mind, have got this the wrong way around.

I compost all my organic waste which means, under council’s new system, through my rates I will be paying for a rubbish collection service I will not use.

Organic waste makes up about 40 per cent of household rubbish. By including organic waste in the rate-funded rubbish collection, council is making it easier for people to throw out their food scraps, when really they should be encouraging people to compost.

Auckland Council should be rewarding people who already compost by making organic waste the rubbish that requires a prepaid tag. Council’s new system punishes people actively reducing their organic waste and discourages composting.

- John