A "long and quite controversial process" is coming to an end with a kerbside recycling service being abandoned by the Waitaki District Council's assets committee yesterday.
The committee yesterday recommended the council not go ahead with a kerbside recycling collection, instead leaving it to private contractors to provide.
Solid waste officer Gerry O'Neill said this seemed the most practical solution to a process which had lasted about two years, dogged by controversy as the council attempted to minimise the amount of waste going into its Oamaru and Palmerston landfills.
The one-bin kerbside recycling service the council was proposing to implement would have cost ratepayers between $100 and $150 each a year for very little gain in extending the life of the two landfills.
The committee recommended the decision be backed up by education, subsidised home composting, restrictions on materials that can be put in landfills and working with communities for local solutions.
It now leaves the way open for contractors, including the community-owned Waitaki Resource Recovery Trust, to come up with and invest in recycling initiatives.
Assets group manager Neil Jorgensen said contractors were uncertain about what the council intended to do about recycling.
There had been no investment by contractors in recycling initiatives because it was too risky if the council came in with its own service.
If the council accepted the committee's recommendation to abandon a recycling service, it would give certainty to the private sector to provide one, he said.
Waitaki Mayor Alex Familton said the decision to abandon a kerbside recycling collection was "a logical progression and end result" to what the council had discussed over the past year.
The decision would offer people the chance to develop their own individual preferences to deal with their own waste.
The decisions made by the committee yesterday could also affect the future of the "black bag" weekly refuse collection in urban areas of the district.
That costs ratepayers $130,000 a year, but is used by only 17% of the properties which have access to the service.
Others use a wheelie bin service offered by private contractor Transpacific Industries Group, which is separate from the council and paid individually, outside of rates.
The committee has asked for a review of the viability of the weekly black bag refuse collection.
People will have a chance to comment on the changes when the council updates its solid wast strategy and includes it for public submissions next year as part of its long term council community plan (LTCCP).
