The Whakatāne District Council will bring its litter collection and CBD footpath sweeping services in-house from 1 November.

The change follows a recent statutory review of the services, which is required before an existing contract is renewed. A business case developed as part of that process indicated that cumulative savings in the order of $330,000 could be achieved over a 10-year period, if the services were delivered by Council staff.

Council Places and Open Spaces Manager Mike Naude says in-house delivery of the litter and footpath sweeping services offers a number of synergies with the Council’s existing Parks Operations unit.

“This function involves emptying some 150 litter bins in the central business areas and Council reserves every day, and twice a day if required during the summer months, plus litter collection services in the Awatapu Lagoon and Sullivan Lake reserves,” he explains. “It will also involve a weekly sweeping and cleaning of the footpaths in the Whakatāne and Kopeopeo CBD areas.

“Expected benefits from the coordinated management of our amenity gardening, vegetation control, mowing and litter and footpath sweeping within one unit include efficiency improvements, greater flexibility to increase service frequency when required, improvements in the levels of service provided and an overall cost saving for Council.”

A small vacuum sweeper unit and a mini refuse compactor truck will be purchased for the in-house service, which will also see two additional staff employed.