Everyone in Timaru District needs to label their bins with their address as part of the plan to stocktake and tag all 63,834 bins in the district.

The task of mustering and tagging all the wheelie bins in Timaru District follows last year’s pilot in the Timaru CBD. The programme will ensure we have a complete record of every bin in the district, and ensure everyone is getting the level of service they are paying for.

The Radio Frequency ID (RFID) tag will supplement the printed serial numbers on all the bins enabling easier and quicker identification of bins, streamlining services and enabling identification of lost bins.

Council Waste Minimisation Manager Ruth Clarke says that while the tagging part of the project is to be rolled out in the coming weeks and months, everyone in the district needs to take time to identify their own bins.

“To ensure this process goes as quickly as possible we need everyone in the district to now mark their address on the side of the bin with paint, permanent marker or a write on label.

“Once we start the tagging process we’ll be asking everyone to put all their bins out on their collection day for 3 weeks running, even if that particular bin isn’t being emptied that day, and leave all bins out all day.

“The aim of this project is to ensure that all ratepayers in the district are getting the services for which they are paying. We can also offer people who need extra collections the option to pay for extra services.”

The RFID tags being attached to the bins are about the same size as a plastic bottle cap and will enable our trucks to check in real time whether a bin is at the correct property before emptying it.

If there’s no tag, or the bin is in the incorrect location it will not be emptied and marked for return to its rightful owner or removal at a later date.

“Despite the fact a wheelie bin should remain with the same property, we know that over time they move around the place and get swapped around, so it’s good practice to undertake a periodic stock take of all our bins and update our register,” said Ruth.

“Doing this presents us with the opportunity to modernize the system so this will be less of a problem in the future and ensure all ratepayers are getting a fair waste and recycling service.”

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