Solid Waste Services Contract Awarded to Innovative Waste Kaikōura

At its meeting on 30 June 2021 Council approved awarding of a new contract for solid waste services (refuse, recycling, and other waste management activities) to Innovative Waste Kaikōura (IWK). The contract is for a term of 4 years and 9 months commencing on 1 October 2021 and has a tendered price of $2,265,000 + GST. It is expected that approximately two-thirds of this contract price will be funded through Council rates with the remainder recovered directly by IWK through user pays charges for services at the Kaikōura Resource Recovery Centre.

The awarding of this contract and confirmation of associated service changes through Council’s deliberations on submissions to its Long-Term Plan represents the end of an 18-month long process to determine the form of solid waste services that should be provided to the community, and how those services can be most effectively delivered.

IWK was a very clear winner of an open tender process that also attracted tenders from two other very experienced and capable solid waste contractors, with IWK’s tender having the lowest price by a very substantial margin, whilst also scoring highly in respect of tender quality. It was recognised that IWK has a strong track record in respect of safe and reliable service delivery and a demonstrated commitment to waste minimisation.

Council believes that the tender process has provided a conclusive confirmation that IWK’s delivery of solid waste services represents best value for the community.

The range of services provided, and their associated costs are generally similar to what has existed previously, with the following exceptions which will take effect from 1 October 2021:

• A fortnightly kerbside refuse collection will be conducted in the Kaikoura urban area. This service will collect only refuse contained in KDC branded rubbish bags, which must be purchased from the Resource Recovery Centre or other approved retail outlets. The bags will have a price of $4.00 each, which covers the full cost of the refuse collection and disposal service. There will be no limit on how many such bags can be put out for collection at any time, provided that they are put out in an appropriately convenient place on the collection round.

That this service will use rubbish bags rather than wheelie bins arose from a proposal by IWK which in the opinion of Council was preferable in a number of respects to what had previously been suggested.

• Kerbside collections of recycling at Oaro, Peketa and Goose Bay and the operation of the rural recycling centre at the suburban school will cease, as has been indicated in Council’s draft Long Term Plan.

A further change that has been agreed in response to the tender of IWK is that the date for the closure of the Kaikōura landfill and a transition to disposal of refuse outside of the Kaikōura District will be brought forward from 2024 to 2022 since this will be more cost effective. It is intended that construction of the transfer station required for this out-of-district disposal will be funded through a component of user pays charges for refuse disposal.

Council and IWK will be working together over the next few months to implement the changes to services required by the new contract, including providing the community with further information on these changes.