Proposed Waste Fees and Charges for 2025-26

Overview

Council has completed its annual review of waste fees and charges.

These waste fees and charges include the Bluegums landfill in Blenheim, the Blenheim Transfer Station and other transfer stations around the region. Due to this affecting all ratepayers, Council has opted to consult the public.

Council is limited by Section 150 Subsection 4 of the Local Government Act to only set charges to cover its operating costs. This applies across all of Council’s waste facilities.

Marlborough’s waste costs are covered via a user pays system at the Bluegums landfill and the Blenheim Transfer Station with the other transfer stations around Marlborough funded through a mixture of user pays and rates.

For 2025-26 Council has set a new fee structure for the Bluegums Landfill to ensure costs are recovered for each waste stream. Council has determined a weighted average pricing structure as the fairest and most accurate system to use.

The proposed average increase from 1 September 2025 at the Bluegums landfill is 17.82% for all waste types except for grass clippings and green waste. It is proposed that the price for grass clippings remains the same as it is currently and green waste will increase more to help realign these two types of waste.

Almost half of the increase is related to Government requirements, including an increase in the Waste Levy, a change in the method of calculating of the Unique Emissions Factor (UEF) and an increase in the cost of carbon credits to offset the greenhouse gas emissions that the landfill produces. These increases are outside of Council’s control.

The balance is made up of increases in landfill aftercare and reserve provisions including operational and capital costs and post closure expenses.

Council has budgeted $22M for the 2025-26 year to cover the costs of Marlborough’s waste services.

For more information go to the:

Proposed Waste Fees and Charges consultation document

Your feedback is now invited with the submission period open until 6 June 2025.