Waste Management NZ has won a $50 million contract to operate Lower Hutt's rubbish and recycling collection service.
File image. Photo: RNZ
It updates the city's current service, which sees a number of small, locally-owned operators collect refuse.
This will bring a centralised and uniform service for residents, with new bins being dished out to households.
It will also change the funding, with the service being paid for through rates.
Lower Hutt mayor Campbell Barry said it was a major milestone for the city.
"Finally, we will have a fully modernised rubbish collection service, something that our people strongly supported in our consultation.
"The new service will be cheaper for the majority of our residents and will increase access for everyone in our city to good quality waste collection."
Eleven trucks, equating to half of the truck fleet, will be electric by July 2021, which will reduce carbon emissions by nearly a thousand tonnes.
The service will move to a weekly collection for rubbish, and fortnightly for recycling.
All staff working for Waste Management will be paid the living wage.
Households will be given a new wheelie bin for recycling, with green crates remaining for glass bottles.
Waste Management Lower North Island manager David Howie said: "We proudly employ over 100 people who work from our offices in Seaview and most of our collection staff live in the Hutt Valley.
"We're committed to employing locals and this will deliver significant economic benefits to the wider community."
The council will now be asking households what size bin they would like, and also if they would be interested in a green-waste service, which would be paid for separately by those who opt in.
It's not yet known how much it will cost, as it depends on interest-levels.
