Council is seeking feedback from members of the public on the preferred landfill opening times.

A reduction in landfill hours had been flagged in Council’s 2018-28 Long-Term Plan, and the issue has been compounded by the decision by current service providers QRS not to renew their contract.

Wairoa Mayor Craig Little said the cost of waste management is becoming more and more expensive.

“Initially we thought we might need to reduce the landfill opening days from seven days a week down to six in a bid to save costs. 

“However, with QRS no longer available to provide the service we have had to go to the market to look for another landfill operator

“The feedback we have received is that the price we are proposing is not enough to keep the landfill open for six days. 

“Council needs to know whether the community want to pay more to keep the current service and opening times or pay the same amount, but the landfill will be open less often.

“No decisions have been made. It is up to the community to tell us what they want. Once we have that feedback that will form the basis of the landfill service moving forward.

“At the end of the day, there is going to have to be a change to the opening hours.

“We want feedback from the people of Wairoa on how extreme they think the reduction in operating times should be.”

The landfill consultation is open from Monday December 17 and the consultation period will be kept open longer than required, until January 30,  as Council is aware the consultation period spans the Christmas/New Year holiday break.

“We are aware seeking feedback over this time is more difficult, and we hope people will still share their thoughts and views with us.

“The more feedback we receive the means more information we have to put the best service in place that we can within our budgets.

“Waste is everybody’s issue, and we really do encourage active participation.

“We will be pushing out as much information around the landfill as possible using our website, Facebook, press release and local media.

“Our aim is to consider community feedback and make a decision on how the service will be delivered in the future on February 5, the first Council meeting of 2019.

“We will be hoping to have a contract signed and new operator in place by March next year.”

17 December 2018

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