Compare the cost of garbage in New Zealand – why this difference?

For some New Zealanders, garbage is just one of those things that happen. You throw your bin in the street every week or fortnight and someone comes to clean it.

But in other parts of the country, getting rid of your waste is a much more complicated exercise.

There are bags to buy or bins to rent, or even garbage tags to place on the bins provided by the board, just to mix everything.

We undertook to compare the cost of waste in the country and ask: why this difference?

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First, it has not been an easy task because the cost of waste is something that is hard to make clear comparisons with. The size of a "garbage bag" varies by country: 40 or 60 liters can be standard and bins of 120, 140 or 240 liters, in general.

But let's try.

Auckland is perhaps the most confusing of all regions, but it is a good example of different approaches to waste management in the country.

All Auckland taxpayers pay a base rate of $ 100.39 per year, GST included, for "waste services".

In the old neighborhoods of Auckland City and Manukau City, collections are "free" because these households also pay a targeted garbage collection rate of $ 123.78 per year, which gives them a bin of 120 liters. They can choose to upgrade to a 240-liter bin for $ 58.18 more per year.

The rest of Auckland is in "pay as you throw". This involves the purchase of garbage labels in local supermarkets and other outlets, which are then attached to their wheeled bins.

Wheelie bins are available in three different sizes: 80, 120 and 240 liters. The tags cost $ 2.60, $ 3.80 and $ 5.50, respectively. Auckland Council is only one of the options that households can use to remove garbage because other commercial operators also provide services in these areas. (And some residents would say to provide better service.)

It is expected that all Aucklanders will use these systems by 2021, as part of the council's process to standardize garbage collection. And yes, nothing prevents anyone from slipping your paid badge; but some have found creative ways to solve the problem.

In Wellington, the waste is entirely paid: households pay $ 2.80 for a standard bag or $ 1.80 for a small bag and can also rent a bin collected weekly for a fee. The council provides a recycling service.

In Christchurch, $ 33 per year is collected from the household rate to cover the cost of garbage collection. There is also a target rate of $ 146.24 for "waste minimization", which covers recycling and organic waste.

In the district of Coromandel, households pay between $ 100 and $ 117 according to a targeted rate, depending on the region where they are located.

Whangarei and Dunedin pay per bag – at Whangarei, it costs $ 2.80, in Dunedin, $ 3 for a 45L bag or $ 3.20 for a 65L. In the north, you can also rent a trash bin picked up weekly for about $ 250 a year.

Brad Olsen, an economist at Infometrics, said the cost of waste varies from country to country.

One of the most important is the cost of shipping waste to the facility, he said.

"Some waste is moved to a landfill in the local area, and other places sometimes ship their waste out of their area.Another reason is the cost of maintenance of the waste treatment facility – it It is essential to ensure that waste treatment sites do not infiltrate into the local environment and therefore, depending on the landfill site, it may be more expensive to maintain and maintain barriers. between the waste and the local environment. "

He added that there would also be a cost recovery element.

"A larger area and / or a new landfill site would increase prices in some areas because the coverage, or the cost of installing a new site, would increase the costs of the board and, hence, Another difference could be whether the garbage dump attracts the government's waste tax, and sites that do not charge the tax would probably be a little cheaper sometimes. "

He said some tips might try to encourage people to use less waste by charging more.

"However, from what I've heard, it seems that any price difference due to the incentive of people to reduce waste volumes only shows the waste being shipped elsewhere."

In some cases, pay-as-you-go systems have led to an increase in illegal dumping of waste. Earlier this year, Auckland mayor Phil Goff announced a crackdown on people who dumped garbage illegally, "because they are too lazy or too tense" to pay for the costs of scrapping. areas where tariffs do not cover costs.

Goff committed an additional $ 200,000 to manage the problem, which included increased monitoring and investigations.

Illegal disposal of household waste has been a long-standing problem in Auckland, with clean-up costs reaching nearly $ 1 million a year. However, the discovery in January of 28 steel drums immersed in the sensitive chains of the ecology of Waitākere allowed to better understand the problem.

Possible changes could also lead to companies taking on more of the costs of waste management.

The Minister Delegate for the Environment, Eugénie Sage, announced a potential increase in the fee for waste disposal in landfills.

New Zealand has more than 420 known landfill sites and the government tax on waste disposal covers only 11% of them – mainly metropolitan landfills accepting landfills. household waste – and only concerns about 30% of the waste stream.

"According to surveys in Auckland, construction and demolition waste accounts for about 85% of the waste stream, yet the levy applies to very few landfill sites where these materials end. must be applied to more landfill sites in order to encourage the recovery of materials and to divert waste from landfills. "

Sage said that when the law on waste minimization was adopted in 2008, it was expected that the levy would increase.

"However, nearly a decade later, the levy remains at the introductory price of $ 10 a tonne, and we will be consulting with the public about the increase in levies and potential increases next year.

"The tax currently generates approximately $ 30 million a year, half of which goes to boards to help fund their waste reduction activities, with the balance going to the Waste Reduction Fund and its grant program. to help progressive businesses and community organizations reduce waste. "