The "black bag" weekly rubbish collection by the Waitaki District Council may finish at the end of next month, leaving ratepayers to make their own arrangements with private contractors.
The council will next Tuesday make a final decision whether to continue the service in urban areas of the district, including Oamaru, but its assets committee has already recommended it cease the kerbside collection from November 27.
That would save ratepayers about $130,000, transferring the cost to a user-pays system.
The council's service was not widely used because private contractors offered alternatives, including wheelie bins.
Solid waste officer Gerry O'Neill said only 17% of households within the kerbside collection areas used the council's black-bag service.
The private wheelie-bin service was used by about 73% of the people, and a private contractor's yellow-bag service used by the other 10%.
It had long been a bone of contention that people who did not use the council-run black-bag service were subsidising those who did.
"There is a strong desire among the public for user-pays as a fairer means of paying for refuse [disposal]," he said.
