Kia ora Jayson,

 

We acknowledge receipt of your request on 14 June 2023.

 

We have forwarded this request to our Waste Managemnet Team in the hope
that they may have this information readily available and will be able to
respond promptly and directly to you.

 

We will get back to you to confirm if your response will come from the
department, or if our team will manage and respond to your request through
our more formal official information process. 

 

If you have any further queries please contact us on 09 301 0101 or email
[1][Auckland Council request email]

 

 

Ngā mihi,

The Privacy and LGOIMA team

Auckland Council

 

 

From: jayson chilvers <[FOI #23129 email]>
Sent: Wednesday, June 14, 2023 11:31 AM
To: Official Information <[email address]>
Subject: Official Information request - food bins

 

Dear Auckland Council,

You are in the process of rolling these bins out in west Auckland.

1) when the trial was running in Papakura. What was the the response what
percentage of households used them?
2) What was the fee for this during the trial?
3) What is the cost of collection and processing per bin per household per
collection? Processing costs include cost to see it to the composting
facility in Taupo.
4) What manager thought this was a good idea?
5) Does this manager have a background in waste management?
6) What is the foreseen profit involved in this enterprise?
7) Why was there no public consultation and/or approval.
8) What is the cost per bin to purchase from the manufacturer?
9) Why is there no 'Opt-out' option?
10) What is the forecast cost of disposal per year?
11) What is the forecast income derived from the targeted rates for this
per year?
12) If there is a profit what is the intended use of this profit?

Yours faithfully,

jayson chilvers

-------------------------------------------------------------------

This is an Official Information request made via the FYI website.

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[2][FOI #23129 email]

Is [3][Auckland Council request email] the wrong address for
Official Information requests to Auckland Council? If so, please contact
us using this form:
[4]https://fyi.org.nz/change_request/new?bo...

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
[5]https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers

If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please
ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA
page.

show quoted sections

Kia Ora Jayson,

 

Please see our response to your queries in red below.

1) when the trial was running in Papakura. What was the the response what
percentage of households used them? Nearly 50% of households used their
bins once every three weeks.

2) What was the fee for this during the trial? Trial residents were not
charged during the trial but they have been charged since 2018/19 when the
service became business as usual.
3) What is the cost of collection and processing per bin per household per
collection? Processing costs include cost to see it to the composting
facility in Taupo. These will change each year but we estimate the total
cost per household to be around $80.00 in 2022/2023 for a full-year
service. The full-year targeted rate was $61.98 (plus GST) per household
with the remainder of the cost funded by the revenue from the waste levy.
4) What manager thought this was a good idea? The food scraps service was
approved by the Auckland Council governing body. Central Governments 2023
Waste Strategy has also mandated that councils provide a service by 2027.
5) Does this manager have a background in waste management? See answer
above. 
6) What is the foreseen profit involved in this enterprise? Auckland
Council does not make a profit on this service.
7) Why was there no public consultation and/or approval. The targeted rate
for the food scraps collection service was consulted on as part of the
Annual Budget 2022/2023 and Annual Budget 2023/2024 public consultations
(further information can be found [1]here and [2]here).

8) What is the cost per bin to purchase from the manufacturer?
Commercially sensitive information and is therefore confidential.
9) Why is there no 'Opt-out' option? The introduction of a targeted rate
was approved by the Governing Body through the Long-term Plan 2018-2028
decision making process on 31 May 2018 (Resolution GB/2018/91). The
Governing Body endorsed the provision of the service to all urban
households, with no provision for opt-outs.
10) What is the forecast cost of disposal per year? The forecast disposal
cost for a full year of collections is approximately $25m, note these are
subject to change.

11) What is the forecast income derived from the targeted rates for this
per year? Rates charges are calculated based on ensuring all costs of
disposal are covered. These are calculated each year (and approved via the
budget process) the total income derived from targeted rates will also
take into account that rubbish disposal costs should reduce as a result of
the food scraps service.

12) If there is a profit what is the intended use of this profit? Auckland
Council does not make a profit on this service.

 

 

Ngā mihi nui | Kind regards

 

Waste Solutions | Infrastructure & Environmental Services

Location | Level 18 North, Te Wharau o Tāmaki Auckland House, 135 Albert
Street, Auckland

Visit our website: [3]www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz  |
[4]facebook.com/aklcouncil

 

 

[5]The Matariki Festival 2023 is on 11 to 22 July.

CAUTION: This email message and any attachments contain information that
may be confidential and may be LEGALLY PRIVILEGED. If you are not the
intended recipient, any use, disclosure or copying of this message or
attachments is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email
message in error please notify us immediately and erase all copies of the
message and attachments. We do not accept responsibility for any viruses
or similar carried with our email, or any effects our email may have on
the recipient computer system or network. Any views expressed in this
email may be those of the individual sender and may not necessarily
reflect the views of Council.

References

Visible links
1. https://akhaveyoursay.aucklandcouncil.go...
2. https://akhaveyoursay.aucklandcouncil.go...
3. http://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/
4. http://www.facebook.com/aklcouncil/
5. https://www.matarikifestival.org.nz/?utm...

Kia Ora Jayson,

 

The annual targeted rate for the Food Scraps service for the year 23-24
charged to customers is $77.20. You will see this charge on your rates
invoice.

 

The logistics required to get individuals to prove they do not need a
service would cost way more than actually providing a service that most
Aucklanders would benefit from.

Under the Waste Management and Minimisation Plan 2018 consultation, this
was consulted on via a Special Consultative Procedure as part of the Long
Term Plan 2018-2028 public consultation (further information can be found
[1]here, see Item 12). Further, under [2]Te rautaki para - the national
waste strategy, released by the Ministry for the Environment on 29 March
2023, councils are required to provide a residential food scraps
collection in all urban areas (further information can be found [3]here).
This requirement follows the national Transforming Recycling consultation
held in 2022, which drew strong public support for this initiative.

 

Ngā mihi nui | Kind regards

From: jayson chilvers <[FOI #23129 email]>
Sent: Friday, July 14, 2023 8:43 AM
To: Customer Enhancement <[email address]>
Subject: Re: Official Information request - food scraps bins

 

Dear Customer Enhancement,
If the cost per household per year is $80 why is the targeted fee $110? If
you are not making a profit. Which I doubt your claim not to. Where is the
extra $30 a year per household going? With the number of ratepayers this
equates to over $11 million dollars a year. If it costs $80 a a year and
you charge $110 a year if there is no profit what do you call the extra
$30 a year? And where is it going? Why were citizens not given a chance to
opt out if they can prove they don't need one?

Yours sincerely,

jayson chilvers

show quoted sections