Slight increase in waste disposal fees

Gore District residents will have to pay slight more to get rid of their waste from Monday 2 August due to increasing costs to deliver it to the regional landfill.

The new charges see the cost of taking general waste to the Gore Transfer Station increase from $176 a tonne to $200 a tonne. The Council will also start charging $25 a tonne for clean fill.

Roading Asset Manager Peter Standring said it costs $200 a tonne to deliver waste to the AB Lime landfill.

“At $176 a tonne, the Council wasn’t even recovering true costs.”

The Council has also had to introduce fees for large loads of green waste due to commercial operators and out-of-district residents seizing upon the free green waste service introduced last year.

“The transfer station received twice as much green waste between July 2020 and June 2021 than it did the previous 12 months.

“We saw a lot of big loads come in from outside the District, including a truck and trailer load of felled trees from a Five Rivers farm.”

The additional green waste meant extra costs for ratepayers to mulch and manage it at the transfer station, Mr Standring said.

Gore District residents will still be able to deliver their single axle trailer or ute load of green waste for free.

However, there will be a $5 fee for residents with a double axle trailer and a $70 a tonne fee for all bulk, commercial and non-residents.

Mr Standring said the Council would be launching a major review of waste collection, delivery and minimisation in the next couple of months.

“Rethinking Waste is about identifying potential opportunities to minimise and/or recycle the waste in the District cost-effectively, while being friendly to the environment and acceptable to the community,” Mr Standring said.

Later next month, the Council will call for expressions of interest from residents keen to be on a focus group to lead the community discussion.