The controversial three-bin kerbside rubbish collection system proposed for the Waitaki district was rejected by the Waitaki District Council yesterday.
The decision, by eight votes to three, was greeted with cheers from about 30 members of the public who were there to hear the debate on the district's future waste management system.
The council has been working for 21 months on formulating a new system, including seeking tenders from two preferred contractors, EnviroWaste and Delta Services Ltd.
The council will now start a fresh evaluation of kerbside collection options.
Yesterday, it had the choice of two directions - endorsing a decision made last July to introduce a three-bin system or rescinding that decision and looking again at the options.
Voting in favour to continue the three-bin system were Crs Alister Mavor, Peter Twiss and Struan Munro.
Voting against were Crs Gary Kircher, Jim Hopkins, Rod Bidois, Peter Garvan, Helen Stead, Kathy Dennison, Pam Spite and Mayor Alex Familton.
Mr Familton said it was obvious more work needed to be done, as there was "not a complete package'' in front of councillors.
Community groups' wishes to be involved in the waste strategy had to be supported, Mr Familton said.
That included the Waitaki Resource Recovery Trust, with its Chelmer St resource recovery park in Oamaru. There were also other groups at Hampden and Palmerston and in the Waitaki Valley, he said.
Councillors who supported the introduction of the three-bin collection felt that considerable time - including public input - had already been spent on the issue. Cr Mavor said the council had "talked long and hard'' about the options and the three-bin system was flexible enough to meet needs and concerns.
After yesterday's vote, the council decided to adjourn the debate on solid waste and hold a workshop to determine a sound base from which to work.
Cr Hopkins said the council should not halt negotiations with contractors and other parties, but see if it could come up with a quick solution which could be negotiated with them.
"I am not sure councillors are that widely apart [on a collection system] as it may seem.'' Cr Kircher said it was not a matter of "going back to square one''.
The council already had a lot of options available and it was only a matter of exploring those, he said.
Before the council meeting, seven people addressed the council about the decision it faced. Libby McCone described waste as "the new gold''.
"If you look at who is interested in handling it, you have multinationals".
Waihemo Wastebusters group member Maria Barta-Hinkley said waste need not be a cost but an income stream with positive benefits.
The council's solid waste officer, Gerry O'Neil, said scrapping the whole process could cost ratepayers about $230,000, but some councillors were not so sure about that.
During the past two years, there has been considerable disquiet about the methods proposed to collect rubbish, recycling and the future of the Waitaki Resource Recovery Trust and its resource recovery park.
Complicating that has been the emergence of community groups at Palmerston, Hampden and in the Waitaki Valley, which want to play a part, especially by recycling.
The council has been forced to look at the way the district's rubbish is handled, because space is running out in the Oamaru and Palmerston landfills.
There is increasing recycling and re-use, kerbside collection and recycling, greater community expectations and central Government is taking more of an interest in waste minimisation.
