The ups and downs of Auckland’s scraps collection

A waste of time and money? Or a bin-win situation? 1News examines the rollout of Auckland’s contentious food scraps collection service.

Nothing winds up a community Facebook group quite like a local council rolling out a new bin service.

When news emerged earlier this year that Auckland Council was planning to expand its food scrap collection service across the super city, local Facebook groups ran hot with complaints and counter-arguments about the little green bins.

My local community page was no exception. Some of the debate centred on people not being able to opt out of the service given they already composted their scraps. Ratepayers were angry that they had to pay for the service whether they used it or not. The rest either extolled the importance of keeping food scraps out of landfills or asked if anyone knew why the police helicopter was flying overhead.

But how is the food scraps service being received several months later?