It was good to receive a ‘Thank You' note from Tauranga City Council about 'nearly halving the household waste going to landfill”.

But I have to ask – what is happening to food scrap collection?

I notice less than five per cent of the households are leaving their food scrap bin on a refuse collection day. This is not only in our street but also something I noticed on Te Ranga Memorial Drive and also down Cameron Rd. Is this the general state of affairs in Tauranga?

When the scheme started I used to notice about 95 per cent of households leaving their food scrap bins out.

Two reasons I don't like the food scrap collection (even though I have not given up on this) are: One is the stench and smell coming from the bin; two is the ‘yuk' factor arising from the slime and muck.

I thought I will do something about this and ordered compostable bags from Auckland, thinking that would appease TCC and the same time help me deal with the muck, yuk and stench.

How wrong I was! TCC refused to collect my food scraps. Apparently council is waiting for the ‘correct standard' to be released by the Government for the compostable bags. Without this standard they are unable to accept any compostable bags in the food scrap bins.

I am not sure why the council cannot agree this standard with the recycler Hampton Downs Resource Recovery Centre, who recycles the food scraps. Surely if they can agree on the standards for the bags, council do not need to wait for the Government to come up with the standard. Or am I wrong, again?

J Joseph, Pyes Pa.

****Tauranga City Council manager: sustainability and waste Sam Fellows responds: Our food scrap service is back in full swing after we were forced to suspend the service due to the Omicron outbreak. Like the letter writer says, we have noticed less residents putting out their food waste bins than before (about five per cent less) and as part of our ‘Thanks Tauranga' campaign and upcoming summer waste campaign, we are letting our community know that we are back out collecting, and reminding them of the benefits of using the food waste bin rather than sending this waste component to landfill. Those benefits include eliminating the methane food waste produces in landfill, creating more space in our general waste bins and ensuring this odorous material doesn't sit in a general waste bin for up to a fortnight, waiting for collection.

To address the smell issue, we suggest people line their food scraps bin with newspaper or a paper bag or simply wash it out. People can also reduce their bin's odour by freezing smelly food scraps (like meat or fish) until collection day. While the letter writer makes a great point about agreeing on a compostable bag standard, the real issue is that it is very difficult on collection and during processing to differentiate between compostable or non-compostable bags. To some extent, the use of thousands of extra bags would also defeat the purpose of trying to reduce waste, as well as creating an extra cost those using them.