Refuse

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Refuse Collection

Council provide a weekly user-pays refuse collection to all urban properties and a fortnightly collection to rural areas including St Andrews, Makikihi, Morven and Glenavy.

Urban residents and businesses have the choice between using a wheelie bin or official bags.

Rural ratepayers wishing to join the service must apply for a wheelie bin, as bags will not be collected.

Refuse Bins (Wheelie Bins)

Bins can be applied for through the Council and should be delivered within approximately one week. Ratepayers are committed to the bin until the end of the financial year (1 July - 30 June). The cost of a bin is $305.90 for rural areas and $205.60 for urban areas.

If you rent, you will need the landlord's agreement as the charge is added to the rates of the property.

If moving properties, the bin must be left for the new owners.

Rural bins must be taken to the official route to be emptied.

Rural Truck Route Map

If your wheelie bin was missed please phone +64 3 689 0047.

Request a Bin or Additional Recycling Crate

To request a bin or additional recycling crate download the application form, email wastemanagement@waimatedc.govt.nz or call +64 3 689 0047.

Official Bags

Official bags will be picked up in urban area only. Weight limit 12.0 kg. Bags with the official Council logo are available from:

• Waimate Information Centre, 15 Paul Street, Waimate
• Waimate District Council Office, 125 Queen Street, Waimate

Collection Days

Bags and bins should be put out before 7am on day of collection.

Green Waste

The Resource Recovery Park accepts some Green Waste. Customers must place lawn clippings and fibrous leaves separately where directed.

Please note that contaminated loads will be rejected. Materials such as rubbish, bags, fibrous plants and grass clippings must not be left in the green waste area.

Our Goal

• To reduce the District's overall cost incurred in transporting and disposal of waste products to landfill. Currently the equivalent of 300 truck loads of waste is landfilled per year, of which approximately 1/4 is compostable greenwaste.
• To reduce effects on the environment. Waste from wheelie bins is not sorted, but goes directly to landfill. Green waste deposited from your bin decomposes into methane gas, contributing to the greenhouse effect, while leachate produced in the landfill may harm the environment.
• To reduce dependency on refuse wheelie bins, to promote waste diversion and to reduce your costs!

For further information contact Utilities +64 3 689 0047 or utilities@waimatedc.govt.nz.

Composting

Composting: nature's recycling system
Compost is a natural fertiliser and soil conditioner that can be made at home from organic waste. In a compost heap, these wastes are converted into a rich humus by soil micro organisms, insects and worms.
Problem-free composting can be undertaken in your own backyard. It only requires minimal space, effort and a little knowledge.

Why compost?
Composting is a great way of reusing your kitchen scraps and garden rubbish and it's fantastic for you garden because:

• It improves soil fertility, texture, retaining moisture and nutrients.
• Your garden will require less garden chemicals because compost rich soil grows healthier, more productive plants.
• It reduces the amount of garden rubbish going into landfills and the amount of methane gas generated (methane is a greenhouse gas).
• It doesn't cost much to do and it's easy to make.

How to make compost

Compost heaps should be about 1m square and up to 1m high. Manufactured compost bins are neat, efficient, covered containers that fit into a small space, or you can build compost bins from available materials. Compost bins should be bottomless and placed on the bare ground. The process works best in warm, moist locations.

Materials you can compost

Greens (nitrogen rich wastes) - Kitchen food scraps, fruit peels, coffee grounds, tea bags, grass and plant clippings, hair, fur, animal manure, blood and bone, seaweed, fish bones, chopped weeds (less noxious varieties).

Browns (high in carbon and other elements) - Dried leaves, untreated sawdust or wood shavings, hay, peat, vacuum cleaner dust, shredded paper and newspaper, egg shells and crushed sea shells, wood ash.

What not to compost

Meat, grease, fat, dairy products, large bones, plant foliage with residues of chemical sprays, Oxalis and other problem weeds such as live twitch, convolvulus, docks and dandelions, other Toxic material

The basic layering

Start with a layer of coarse, twiggy plant material (e.g small sticks), followed by alternative layers of "Green" and "Brown" wastes and a layer of soil.

Caring for your compost

Turn your heap after it heats up (this destroys weeds & seeds). When it cools down turn it into another unlayered heap or bin. If it becomes too wet, turn and add "Brown" material.Turn your heap if it develops a bad odour.

To speed up composting

Chop or shred components well and turn frequently. Cover the heap in heavy rain. Keep moist – don't let it dry out. If at first it doesn't heat up, add more "Green" material, such as manure or blood & bone.

When is compost ready to use?

Compost is ready to use after two or three turnings, when it looks like potting mix. Use it wherever good organic fertiliser is needed.

Benefits to the environment

1. Saves landfill space and reduces the amount of leachate created from organic matter in the landfill. Leachete, a toxic liquid, can contaminate the surrounding ground water.
2. Improves soil structure and texture. Compost loosens heavy clay soils allowing moisture and air to enter and gives sandy soils more density, helping retain water.
3. Helps prevent soil erosion.
4. Improves aeration of the soil.
5. Promotes soil fertility, stimulating healthy root development and increasing plant growth.
6. Reduces the need for chemical fertilisers and pesticides.
7. Attracts and feeds earthworms.

Unwanted Paint

Is your garage or shed cluttered with old unwanted paint and paint containers? For more information visit Resene.

Community groups can apply to Resene to obtain the used paint.