Charge coming in for big green waste loads
A NEW green waste charging system will help the Gore District Council recoup processing costs, but there are concerns about its fairness.
Councillors agreed to introduce a $120/tonne charge at the Gore refuse transfer station for green waste loads exceeding 100kg, as of July 1.
The recommendation was put forward by chief financial officer Lornae Straith at a council meeting on Tuesday.
Green waste disposal at the station had been free for everybody since May 2020, costing the council $114,000 a year, she said in her report.
‘‘It is the excessive loads coming from farms, outofdistrict users and commercial operators that [have] became a major concern,’’ she said.
‘‘As much as the council is after green waste to mulch into landfill cover, it does need to ensure it is receiving material in a controlled fashion. There is an extra cost to process this excessive amount of material which would add an extra burden on residents/ratepayers. ’’
The new charging system was a balancing act, she said.
Charging every user risked ‘‘an increase in fly dumping around the community and an increase in the amount of green waste in red bins’’.
Commercial operators were also concerned that a charge ‘‘is unfairly penalising their customers, mainly the elderly who are ratepayers and as individuals have a right to free dumping’’.
Setting the cap at 100kg struck the right balance and was easy to police, leaving little room for ambiguity, Ms Straith said.
‘‘The average lawn will generate about 20kg of green waste.
‘‘Council would recover around $178,000, with just over 50% of loads being dumped for free. This change should generate additional revenue of approximately $65,000 per annum.’’
While a limit of 200kg would still recover more than enough money for the service, council chief executive Stephen Parry said a lower limit would stop outofdistrict users taking advantage of a free service.
Cr Neville Phillips said he was concerned the move did not include the Mataura transfer station, which could lead to it being inundated.
‘‘I just think that residents are going to . . . take everything to Mataura and just dump it off there because it’s going to be free regardless of the weight.
‘‘The other thing that I have concerns with is outofdistrict people getting in for free.’’
He suggested issuing ratepayers with a barcode number they could use to access the service, similar to dog registrations.
Ms Straith said the benefits of such a scheme had to outweigh the administration costs.
Mataura would be looked at separately in a future report.
Meanwhile, the council is eligible for $2.3 million of funding as part of the first tranche of the Government’s Three Waters Better Off support package.
A working party consisting of Mayor Tracy Hicks, Crs Richard McPhail, Bret Highsted, Bronwyn Reid and Neville Phillips, four staff members and a representative from the Hokonui Runanga will identify projects meeting the Government’s criteria for where the funding can be used. The party has until the end of September to develop proposals.