3 October, 2026

Alternative rubbish plans reviewed

Encouraging smaller bins, incentives and education programmes to promote reduced waste could be in store with Auckland Council’s proposed alternative plans for achieving its waste-reduction target by 2030.
In 2024 council set a plan to reduce kerbside waste sent to landfill by 29 per cent by 2030, says a report presented to board, continued reliance on landfills will “incur increased costs to Aucklanders”. A trial of fortnightly rubbish collections was proposed, but rejected at the end of 2025.
Alternative plans were presented to the Devonport-Takapuna Local board for feedback, including three options offering a balanced plan (moderate impact), a target focused plan (higher impact) and an incremental change plan (lower impact).
DTLB recommended the targeted focused plan, which would involve free bin downsizing, making the 80L bin a default option; a larger price difference between bin sizes; expanding food scrap participation trials; accelerated development of education programmes and stronger compliance
Board members Garth Ellingham and Terence Harpur preferred a “pay as you throw” model like the city had before, as it would financially encourage residents to reduce their waste.

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