Fees at Carterton Transfer Station have changed from Wednesday 1 March.
The new charges are as follows:
- Per tonne: $246 [plus GST]
- Car boot or SUV: $29 [incl GST]
- Small trailer, van or ute [up to 250kg]: $68.20 [incl GST]
- Large trailer [up to 500kg]: $89.50 [incl GST]
Why are the fees increasing?
To cover the increasing costs of landfill caused by the recently introduced waste disposal levy and the emissions trading scheme (ETS).
A recommendation at the Ordinary Council Meeting on Wednesday 15 February recommended the price of waste at the Dalefield Road site increase from 1 March.
This is due to fees increasing at Midwest Disposal’s Bonny Glen landfill site. The cost to dispose of a tonne of waste will increase from $200 [incl GST] to $246 [plus GST], reflecting the cost increase driven by the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).
Midwest Disposals takes waste from Carterton, Masterton, and South Wairarapa Districts to its Bonny Glen landfill in Rangitikei. The current contract elapsed on 31 December 2022. Discussions between the Councils and Midwest Disposals are ongoing.
If the fees weren’t increased, CDC would incur a significant financial deficit, particularly if large commercial providers use Carterton’s transfer station. An increase in fees will ensure the extra cost will fall on those using the facility as opposed to being spread across all ratepayers.
- Why isn’t there a landfill in Wairarapa we can use?Our current landfill facilities do not meet the resource consent requirements, or size and scale, required to meet the needs of our community.
- Will the fees rise again?From 1 July, the cost to send waste to landfill will further increase as the Waste Levy is scheduled to increase by another $20/t. As yet, a further cost increase to the end user is not confirmed.
- Why is it different from Masterton?Masterton District Council have increased the fees on their transfer station in response to the increased costs arising from the new contract. This has meant that fees at Carterton’s transfer station are now significantly lower than at the Masterton transfer station. CDC has already had several applications from waste disposal companies setting up accounts. While Masterton’s transfer station operates on a fully user-pays system (i.e. no rates funding), Carterton’s transfer station costs are significantly subsidised by rates. This is due to the difference in scale of the two operations. Running a fully user-pays transfer station in Carterton would make the cost of waste disposal unaffordable, which is why it has been subsidised by rates. What this means however, is that for every tonne of waste, the transfer station receives, the cost for Council to dispose of it is higher than the fee received from the individual or company disposing of it at the transfer station. While this is planned for at the start of the rating year based on the expected quantities of waste, and the planned level of subsidisation using rates, if quantities of waste were to increase to more than expected, or if costs Council incurs were to increase significantly, we would begin to see an increasing deficit in the solid waste activity.
- What can I do to make less waste?Our Transfer Station takes a range of materials for recycling for free. This includes cleaned plastics, tin and aluminium, steel, batteries, paper, cardboard, and glass. You can find out more about recycling in Carterton at cdc.govt.nz/sustainability.
Visit our Transfer Station page for further information on services.
Our Sustainability section has further information on waste and recycling in Carterton, including details of our soft plastics and batteries recycling trials.