After months of debate, public submissions and a seven-hour hearing, the council's hearings panel is set to make a final recommendation in the next two weeks.
Councillors and council staff met last week to deliberate on the more than 620 public submissions received, which showed a split in support between maintaining the status quo (39%) and the council's preferred Option C (40%).
Option C would see the retention of black bags for rubbish and blue bins for glass recyclables, but a new wheelie bin - or a list of alternative options - introduced for non-glass recyclables.
The system would cost an estimated $70 per household annually and add 1.1% to city rates in 2010-11.
Hearings panel chairman Cr Andrew Noone was keeping his cards close to his chest when contacted yesterday, saying the panel was waiting on further information requested from staff before finalising its recommendations.
"We have sort of got our position but we need to get staff to follow up on some issues that will firm up our recommendations."
He declined to elaborate, saying only the final recommendation would be "within the scope of what we have consulted on", which included the council's preferred option and a variety of other alternatives.
However, Cr Richard Walls told the Otago Daily Times he expected changes aimed at reducing the cost of the new system while achieving the council's recycling goals.
Cr Walls, who was not a member of the hearings panel, has been a staunch opponent of wheelie bins, arguing instead for smaller and less expensive stacker crates, or additional blue bins, for the city's recycling.
Asked yesterday if his arguments had found traction during last week's deliberations, Cr Walls said he believed so.
"I believe there have been changes and I believe it follows the principle I have been advocating. It's been mentioned the wheelie bins [option] is not going to happen."
Asked about this yesterday, Cr Noone declined to confirm the claims.
"I have got no comment. We are working our way through the process," he said.
Cr Walls said the key objective of any new system was the separation of materials, and additional bins or stacker crates - colour-coded for different types of recycling - could achieve this.
It was important to keep costs down, while capitalising on the "very good" market for a clean supply of glass not contaminated by other recyclables, he said.
"The simple bins which allow people to separate bottles and jars from the other recycling give us the answer, and the submissions, as I understand them, seem to support that result - the simple approach," he said.
Wheelie bins should also be ruled out, in part because contractors would not be able to easily see if materials had been separated or were mixed together, he said.
His comments come after most of the 26 submitters who spoke at last month's public hearing criticised the council's preferred Option C for kerbside collection.
"I understand all those things have been taken into consideration and I'm hoping for a practical outcome," Cr Walls said yesterday.
Last week, the ODT reported that delays in deciding on a kerbside collection system could see the council miss its deadline of October next year for the introduction of a new system.
That could mean the council was left to pay more for a short-term roll-over of the existing contract.
Yesterday, Cr Noone said he planned to speak to Mayor Peter Chin and council city environment general manager Tony Avery about the timetable, and expected to know more by the time the panel's recommendation was released.
The recommendation would be presented first to the council's next infrastructure services committee meeting on November 23, before its decision was considered by the full council on December 14.
