Free rubbish bag trial

Image shows two wrapped rubbish bags being presented.

Find out about our 12-week trial where community services cardholders are eligible for free rubbish bags.

Following the Covid-19 pandemic, recycling contamination in Palmy has increased a lot. At a council meeting in March 2022, it was agreed that free rubbish bags be provided to lower-income households on a trial basis, to gather feedback about whether the cost of getting rid of rubbish is a contributor to people putting rubbish in their recycling bins.

If you have a Community Services Card, you can get 4 free rubbish bags!

From Tuesday 11 April to Friday 28 April, you can collect your free rubbish bags from our following facilities during opening hours:

  • Customer Service Centre, 32 The Square
  • Awapuni Community Library, College Street
  • Te Pātikitiki Community Library, 157 Highbury Avenue
  • Roslyn Community Library, 8 Kipling Street
  • Ashhurst Community Library, corner of Cambridge and Bamfield Streets

You need to bring your Community Services Card with you. While you collect your free bags, we'll ask you a few quick questions about your rubbish and recycling habits.

This is limited to 4 free bags per household, so if your flatmate or family member also has a card, they won’t be able to collect any once you’ve collected yours.

You can use your bags any time.

How we’re measuring the success of the trial

We’ll be carrying out audits at our material recovery facility to see if there's any impact on recycling contamination levels. And by surveying participants when they collect their bags, we’ll be able to paint a picture of what our community is doing with their rubbish and recycling.

In this meeting, elected members discussed the following report. It is item 9 on the agenda: Costs and Options – Provision of One Free Rubbish Bag Per Month to Low-Income Households. 

 

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