Untagged wheelie bins will no longer be emptied

Christchurch and Banks Peninsula residents are being urged to check their wheelie bins have been electronically tagged because untagged bins will soon stop being emptied.

For the past three years Waste Management Limited has been carrying out a stocktake of the city’s wheelie bins on Christchurch City Council’s behalf.

As part of the stocktake, they have been fitting the wheelie bins allocated to each property with a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag that emits a short range signal. The signal can be picked up by the kerbside collection trucks and used to identify if a bin is on a property where it does not belong.

The RFID tags will help identify lost or stolen bins and reduce the cost of the kerbside collection by ensuring that only bins that people are entitled to, and have paid for, are being emptied.

“We are nearing the end of the stocktake which means that most people’s wheelie bins should have been tagged by now. You can tell if your bin has been tagged because it will have a small reflective sticker on the side,’’ says Council Solid Waste Manager Ross Trotter.

“As we have over 475,000 bins in our collection service it is possible that some bins may have been missed in the stocktake, so if you can’t find a sticker on your wheelie bin, it is important you go to our website and fill out the online form to avoid the inconvenience of your bin not being emptied.

“If you can’t go online, you can call our contact centre on 941-8999 and one of our customer services team will fill in the form for you,’’ Mr Trotter says.

“Now is also the time to let us know about any extra bins that you may have so we can arrange to remove them.

“Going forward only bins that residents are entitled to and that are tagged to their properties will be collected. It is important to identify which bins are yours and ensure you are not mixing them up with your neighbours. Any bins that are located without RFID tags will be removed or will no longer get emptied,'' Mr Trotter says.