New bins work - for most
The new recycling collection is going well, the council says – despite some ‘‘teething problems’’.
Yellow-top bins have been in use since July 1, bringing Waitakere into line with other parts of the region and the council is happy with how it’s going, Auckland Council waste planning manager Parul Sood says.
By the end of the first week, 70 per cent of households were putting their new 240-litre bins out, and doing it on the right day.
‘‘There have been a few teething problems, as you’d expect when dealing with a vast and varied region,’’ she says.
‘‘We have had 139 missed collection requests for the first six days of collection ... out of the approximately 60,000 households in the former Waitakere City area.’’
Henderson residents Brenda and Peter Mundy say their new 240-litre recycling bin was not collected on the first day, July 1.
‘‘Our major complaint is that we were inundated with information from the council for months before the change came in and then when the date when the change was to come into being the council themselves didn’t comply with the changes,’’ Brenda Mundy says.
Sood says GPS data shows a truck did service the Mundys’ street that morning, and that residents should put their bin out before 7am.
Mundy says she put the bin out as soon as she woke up, at about 6.40am.
After spending about half an hour on the phone with the council that evening, the Mundys were still not clear as to when their bin would be collected.
They put it out each day for a week until it was finally collected several phone calls later on July 8 – and a few hours after a media enquiry..
‘‘A squeaky wheel gets oiled,’’ Peter Mundy says.
Waitakere Grey Power vicepresident Mate Marinovich says his bin was not collected on collection day either.
It was instead picked up two days later, he says – shortly after texting deputy mayor Penny Hulse about the issue.
Sood says if residents believe their collection has been missed, they can call the council on 09 301 0101 and report it.
If the bin has been missed, the contractor will collect it by 5pm the following working day.