Cr Noone, chairman of the Dunedin City Council's kerbside working party, made his comments yesterday, after last week releasing finalised plans for the city's new $24.8 million, seven-year collection service contract.
The new service would begin on February 28 next year, and feature wheelie bins for non-glass recycling, existing blue crates for glass recycling and user-pays black bags for rubbish.
That was a change from the proposed service approved by councillors in December, which abandoned wheelie bins - following months of criticism - for a proposed two-crate recyclables service.
Since then, the council had been working through the tender process and had discussed the kerbside service in non-public parts of council meetings.
Contacted yesterday, Cr Noone said the switch back to wheelie bins had been made in recent months, following input from potential contractors.
In particular, two companies tendering for the work had broken crate handles or lids while testing them, he said.
"Two of the contractors who had conforming tenders managed to break the handle or the hinges on those small bins by just using them in a manner they would be used in at pick-up.
"They believed they wouldn't be robust enough," Cr Noone said.
The change prompted Dunedin Ratepayers and Householders Association chairman Lyndon Weggery to contact the Otago Daily Times this week, claiming the switch back to wheelie bins was "illegal" without council approval.
However, Cr Noone said resolutions relating to the kerbside service passed by councillors allowed for the views of contractors to be considered, and changes made if required.
"What we wanted to do was listen to the people that know the market and know the industry.
If we limited the scope to just the option preferred ... we felt potentially we could miss out on a better deal."
Council city environment general manager Tony Avery said the wording of December resolutions allowed for contractors to propose "added-value" services for consideration, on top of the two-crate service.
Contractors had in response suggested they could provide a wheelie bin service, including a smaller 80-litre wheelie bin option for hard-to-reach areas, for a "significantly" lower price, he said.
The two-crate service confirmed in December would have seen a second lidded crate introduced for mixed recyclables, while existing blue crates were used for glass, at an estimated annual cost of between $65 and $97 per household.
The revised service confirmed last week swapped the second lidded crate for 240-litre wheelie bins, or smaller 80-litre bins in the case of smaller properties, the elderly and others who needed them.
The service would cost less, at $63 a household each year, he said.
Cr Noone said questions had also been raised about the adequacy of the smaller 40-litre crates for larger families, and the ability to meet council recycling goals with them.
"With a small bin it's basically impossible," he said.
The wheelie bins would also help protect the health and safety of collection workers, who could use a collection truck's mechanical arm to scoop up wheelie bins, he said.
The successful contractors had also offered to make special arrangements for those unable to use the wheelie bins, addressing the concerns of those who thought they would be unmanageable, he said.
