Rubbish fines for careless businesses

May 25, 2006

North Shore City Council will begin fining businesses which continue to ignore the city's rubbish collection timetable.

In some commercial areas, rubbish and recycling continues to be put out on the wrong day and left on the pavement, despite reminders.

This is causing an obstruction and creating litter and hygiene problems, says the council's waste minimisation team leader, Bradley Nolan. There is also the possibility of contents of the recycling bins being contaminated by passers-by.

Businesses need to familiarise themselves with the collection timetable and stick to the rules, says Mr Nolan. The problem is most noticeable in Devonport, Northcote and Takapuna.

"We're getting a lot of complaints about this sort of thing. We've constantly reminded business owners of their responsibilities but we must now fine repeat offenders," he says.

Last year, North Shore City signed a new contract for its waste collection services, introducing fortnightly recycling collections for businesses and residents, using new mobile bins.

The current service for the city's commercial business districts also includes two collections for paper and cardboard, on Mondays and Wednesdays after 6pm; and three rubbish collections, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, after 6pm.

Businesses outside of the city's town centres have their paper and cardboard collected fortnightly on the same day as recycling, and regular rubbish three times per week, as with centre businesses.

Business mobile recycling bins should be positioned on the kerb before 6am on the day of collection, except for Monday when the bins are collected after 6pm.

Collection timetables for businesses are available online at or by calling North Shore City Council on 486 8600.

North Shore City business owners who wish to participate in the council recycling collection should apply directly to the council.

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