Wastebusters introduced kerbside recycling to Wanaka and has held the collection contract for the past seven years, before the Queenstown Lakes District Council awarded the contract to Auckland-owned company Smart Environmental Ltd, which will take over from next week.
Wastebusters operations manager Scotty Opetaia said during the past week residents had been leaving gifts at the depot and on the roadside next to their recycling as a final send-off for the recycling crew.
"There's been cake, beer, and a few people have been coming out to say goodbye and thanking us."
Neville Rosborough, a driver for the Wanaka Wastebusters kerbside recycling operation, said one touching gesture was a huge "Thank you" poster left on someone's lawn with a bag of licorice.
Mr Rosborough, who took redundancy when Wastebusters lost its recycling contract, said it was "really sad" heading out on the final collection, but he was "quite sure that there's definitely a future" for Wastebusters.
