We know many people live on hills or have long drive ways or both. If you need to tow your wheelie bin to the kerbside by car, you can purchase special wheelie bin tow bar attachments. You can call Sulo Group on 09 273 5988 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

If your recycling bin hasn’t been fitted with the latch yet, don’t sweat! Our contractors will return to capture missed bins on the normal recycling day. This may be after the new collections have begun

If your bins arrive damaged or if you haven't recieved a new rubbish or food scraps bin please contact customer services on 0800 746 467 or 07 884 0060 so we can take your details down and organise re-delivery.

If the calendar in your new bin is damaged and you would like a new one these can be picked up for free from council offices. You can also download a PDF version here.

No - the latches are designed to keep the lid closed in high winds or if your bin tips over but when the collection truck picks them up and turns them upside down the latches will release.

Please make sure lids are latched before putting out for collection. You don't need to wait until September to start using the latch

No, but you’ll still be able to drop off the official MPDC bags free of charge at Refuse Transfer Stations until 31 August 2024.

From 1 September 2024 any bag up to 60 litres will be charged at the current rate for that year. The 2025/26 rate per bag is $6.90 however this is reviewed annually and may increase in line with the increase set by government for waste sent to landfill.

If you want to use up your old council rubbish bags, you can put them (or any other bag) inside your red rubbish bin.

Yes, new bins will have an address label and serial number.

If you are moving house or flat, you must leave the rubbish and recycling bins supplied to that property for the next owners or tenants.

If you are moving into a house that is eligible for kerbside collection, there will be bins there, or you can request them from council here.

The RFID tags being fitted to bins retain very limited information:

• the property address
• the bin serial number

It does not store any personal information and is not visible after installation - this is why we're asking people to look out for the black latch being attached as a sign that recycling bins can be taken back in.

This data allows for lost bins to be returned to the correct address and give contractors a simple count of the number of bins collected on any single day.

The bins are not owned by residents, but are allocated by Council to reside at an individual property (or rateable unit). All wheelie-bins have a unique ID that can be scanned to identify what property the bin is allocated to. If a wheelie-bin is misplaced or stolen, we can find out where it belongs if it is recovered at another address.

Please continue to take your bins to the collection point on a council road as the contractor is only contracted to collect from council roads.

No, please leave your bin lids latched closed to prevent the lids opening in high winds. When the trucks turn the bins upside down the latches will release.

No, the trucks collecting rubbish and recycling are dual purpose. One week they collect rubbish. They are cleaned out to collect recycling the following week. The truck that collects food scraps and glass has two separate compartments, so can collect both of these in the same truck. This reduces our carbon footprint and also the cost by multi-purposing each truck.

No - discharging water to land requires a special consent. Some contractors may have specialised vehicles that contains the water and do not discharge it to land. This is not normal practice in the industry and our fleet are not fitted to do this.

No - the rubbish bags were on a pre-paid system (paying for cost of disposal when buying the bag) which is why you could dispose of them for 'free' at transfer stations. If you have more refuse than the 120-litre bin you can:

• use up any official MPDC bags at the transfer station until 31 August 2024
• buy any bag up to 60 litres and drop at the transfer station for $5.50 (this is the current rate - reviewed annually) or pay by weight for larger amounts
• enter into a separate agreement with a private contractor for kerbside collection over and above the 120 litre bin per 2 weeks.

If you'd like to find out more ways to reduce waste in your household we encourage you to follow our facebook page for tips and videos.

We are aware that there are a small number of residential properties within commercial areas. Under the new contract, these properties will not be eligible for kerbside collection because the logistical challenges of collecting in commercial areas remain the same (see the commercial areas page for more details)

Residents will need to arrange for a private collection or dispose of their rubbish and recycling at a transfer station.

Your food waste will go to Tirohia Energy Park, just outside Paeroa, where it will be processed for composting.

Your glass and recycling will also be taken to Tirohia Energy Park for processing. This site is planned to be constructed and fully operational by 2024. In the interim, Waste Management will take the recycling to another nearby facility.

Under the old system, rubbish and recycling is paid for through targeted rates ($123.91 per property that receives the service) and user fees (rubbish bags). The total amount a household pays varies depending on how many rubbish bags they use, e.g.:

Under the new and current system, rubbish and recycling will be fully paid through rates (i.e. you won't need to buy rubbish bags any more).

Every household that receives the kerbside collection service will pay $289.28 per year for this in their rates - this is only $9.37 more per year for household that currently put out one bag per week.

All properties that are eligible for kerbside collection will be charged for this service through a targeted rate. You will still pay for this through your rates whether or not you choose to use the service. 

We know that some people would prefer to opt out and organise their own rubbish disposal, but there are a number of reasons that make this impractical:

• The contractor has significant fixed costs related to delivering a kerbside collection service (eg, the cost to fit out the collection trucks, insurances, staff). The more properties we can spread these fixed costs over, the cheaper the service becomes for everyone. 
• Government is requiring all councils to provide a recycling service by 2027 (including separate foodwaste collection) to households in urban areas with 1000 people or more. Council can’t opt out of providing this service, so we want the best deal for the majority of our urban areas.
• There would be practical challenges both for the contractor (like which properties to collect) and for Council (which properties to charge) – these would require more admin time, which equals more costs.
• A large number of residential properties in our urban areas are rented. The decision to opt in or out would need to be made by the ratepayer (the landlord), meaning a large number of tenants could end up with no access to kerbside collection.   
• While your household might be doing all the right things – recycling and reducing the amount of waste you send to landfill, composting or not putting foodwaste in your general refuse (which increases emissions), we know that some households aren’t playing their part. If Council doesn’t take a strong role in encouraging everyone to reduce their waste going to landfill and reduce emissions – then who will?

Our Council participated in a joint competitive procurement process with Hauraki and Thames Coromandel District Councils. External consultants Morrison Low were hired to prepare the tender and contract specifications and conducted the overall procurement process.

Six companies supplied tenders, with five of those applying to our district.

Audit New Zealand was engaged to act as the probity auditor for the procurement process. Audit NZ is the Auditor-General’s in-house provider of financial audits. The Audit NZ report states that good practice for public sector procurement was followed and that no outstanding probity issues were found.

Each of the three East Waikato councils evaluated the tenders independently of each other and all three identified Waste Management NZ as their preferred provider.

No, all bins and replacements are covered in the targeted kerbside rate.

While the procurement process was carried out jointly by all three councils, the final result is three separate contracts. A review of the current joint solid waste contract found that a shared service was not flexible when responding to customer requests or meeting the varied needs of each council. But it found that savings could be made through the joint procurement process. We're also continuing to work closely together where we can to achieve cost savings - for example, in how we communicate these changes to our communities

There will be a formal, independent review of the new contract performance after five years. This will present an opportunity to continue to make any ongoing improvements as required.