The bins - 20 for Arrowtown and 30 for Wanaka, paid for with a $125,000 grant from the Ministry for the Environment as part of its public places recycling programme - were installed by the Queenstown Lakes District Council after consultation with the town's business community, council solid waste manager Stefan Borowy said.
The bins made a statement, particularly to visitors to the district, that sustainability is important to our community, he said.
"More than that, I think the message is one of caring for our environment. In a location like ours, that is critical," Mr Borowy said.
Mr Borowy said he had met representatives of the Arrowtown business community before installing the bins.
But Arrowtown Business and Promotion Association president Jono Palmer and secretary Sari Eench said their group had not been approached or consulted about the bins.
"What a circus," Mr Palmer said.
The installation of the bins had been a real mess-up, he said.
"It was just comical. They had all these signs they were taking on and off them, and one by the telephone box had to be moved.
"Whoever co-ordinated it couldn't manage a toothpick," he added.
While he thought the bins were "OK" to look at, Mr Palmer said the bins should have been located alongside normal bins to show they were for recycling.
But fellow Buckingham St business owner Justen Eden from The Gold Shop was critical of the bins and their installation, saying while he was not opposed to recycling, the bins did not fit with the historic character of the town and were a liability.
"It's the design, the location and lack of consultation. "I've been in business here for 20 years, and in that time everyone has worked hard to protect that character of the town.
We do nothing that would upset that, yet we get 20 of these things plonked in our town.
"We wouldn't be allowed to do that."Arrowtown businesses, including The Gold Shop, were regularly inspected and had to meet council standards for signs, yet the bins with their signs had just arrived, he said.
"The whole town feels very let down by the council decision to let these things in."
Mr Eden's comments were backed up by another Arrowtown businessman, Bruce Gibbs, who owns three shops in Buckingham St.
"I agree with everything Justen says," Mr Gibbs said.
Mr Eden had asked for one of the bins to be relocated away from his shop - an old wooden building - after he saw people using them for cigarette butts.
"It was a fire risk," he said.
His concerns were shared by Buckingham St Night 'N Day dairy owner Alan Garrick, who said he also asked for a bin to be moved away from his shop because of the fire risk.
"The fire thing was certainly a concern for me. My insurance company doesn't allow us to store rubbish on our trailer out the back."
There were too many of the bins around the town, he said.
"If they were genuinely concerned about recycling, you'd think they would have them where the tourists buses are."
The bins were "just clutter", he added.
Arrowtown Fire Service chief Gary Hall confirmed he became concerned about the bins after people were using them as rubbish bins for cigarette butts, "which is probably not a good thing next to a wooden building, especially in Arrowtown", and was instrumental in having the bins moved.
While Arrowtown central postie Sandy Campbell said she was initially confused by the bins, Kaitangata visitors John and Dorothy Finch liked the bins and supported the recycling initiative.
Mrs Finch said the bins were "easy on the eye" and there was no reason for people not to use them.
Mr Borowy said he had received feedback from several people in Arrowtown that he "may not have got the location of a couple of bins right" and those bins had subsequently been relocated - including a bin by the old telephone box on Buckingham Green because it was popular location for photographs - "but on the whole we have received very positive comments about the new service".
While he acknowledged there had been "potential fire risk" issues raised by business owners with the Fire Service, he said such a risk had not been an issue elsewhere in the district.
He said there was always some general rubbish contaminating recycling bins, but so far it was not a big problem in the Arrowtown bins.
There was a bin placed by the public toilets in Ramshaw Lane where people alighted from buses, he added.
Branding signs on the bins were a requirement of the ministry funding but had been adjusted to black and white to suit the Arrowtown character, he said.
Before the bins were installed, he had suggested placing one near the museum in Buckingham St to gauge public reaction but was told it was unnecessary, "but in hindsight it might have been a good idea".
If people genuinely did not like them, the Queenstown Lakes District Council was prepared to reconsider their placement, Mr Borowy said.
