Tauranga residents now have the chance to upsize or downsize their rubbish and recycling bins.

In 2021 Council rolled out its new kerbside rubbish and recycling collection programme. All households were issued bins for general waste, recycling, and food scraps, along with the previously issued glass recycling bin and an optional green waste bin.

This year Council is providing an opportunity to upsize or downsize the waste (red lid) and recycling (yellow lid) bins to suit household sizes using ‘bin bundles'.

All households currently have the standard bin bundle, which includes a 140L rubbish bin and a 240L recycling bin. There will be two new bin bundle options available.

• The small bin bundle is suitable for households that don't produce a lot of rubbish and recycling. It includes an 80L rubbish bin and a 140L recycling bin. This will cost $190 for the 2022-2023 rates year – $30 less than the standard bin bundle.
• The large bin bundle is suitable for households that produce a lot of rubbish and recycling. It includes a 240L rubbish bin and a 240L recycling bin. This will cost $320 for the 2022-2023 rates year - $100 additional to the standard bin bundle.

All bin bundles include the fortnightly collection of rubbish, recycling and glass, and the weekly collection of food scraps.

Stay with your standard bin bundle, pictured, or choose to upsize or downsize your bins.

Tauranga City Council Manager of Sustainability and Waste, Sam Fellows, says the new bin bundles will further build on the success of the kerbside rubbish and recycling collection programme by giving people more options.

'The community has done a brilliant job embracing the new bins, and now we want to give them an opportunity to ensure their bins are appropriate for the amount of household waste they are producing.”

Sam says the new bin bundles will also allow for reusing existing bins.

'To minimise waste, your new bin/s will likely be a sanitised second-hand bin, or we will swap the lid of one of your existing bins. For example, your existing 140L rubbish bin may be turned into your 140L recycling bin by swapping the lid from red to yellow.”

If people are happy with their current standard bin bundle, they don't need to do anything. To upsize or downsize your waste and recycling bins, visit www.tauranga.govt.nz/binchange, call 07 577 7000 or download the Tauranga kerbside collections app which can be downloaded to your device from the App Store or Google Play.

The app has several functions.

As well as a portal to the Council contact centre to report a missed or broken bin, or request an alternative bin bundle, this app can let you know when and what bins are due for collection and send you reminders.

The option to change your bin size is restricted to the homeowner, or households with an individual rating valuation number.

This means that people living in rental properties and some multi-unit dwellings will need to speak with their landlord, or the council to discuss available options.