A post from a Waikanae man on the Neighbourly site is below.  Our green crate was removed a few months ago, too, but we got it back.

We use lowcostbins.co.nz for general waste (not glass), an 80 litre bin (in the pic) collected weekly for a year cost $138 at the time; a 240 litre bin was included in the deal; we don’t know what next year’s fee will be.

For green waste from garden trimming we use a borrowed mulcher (some awaiting it in the pic); branches are trimmed and given away as firewood.

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This is a very truncated account of my dealings over trying to get a bin (monstrously too large for my needs) and a crate for glass.
My recycling crate was removed 3 weeks ago. I rang KCDC to get a replacement and they said if I looked in the mailbox there would be a leaflet…
I rang Envirowaste and got on the list and complained about their removing the old one before providing a substitute.
Various calls to E…waste and KCDC.
Last time I rang Envirowaste the woman told me that every time KCDC or I rang I went to the bottom of the delivery list.
I AM FURIOUS.
Envirowaste is a Chinese company and this behaviour reflects the Chinese way of suppressing complaint. This is so alien to New Zealand culture and we should not buy into it. KCDC should license waste collectors and prohibit the unlicensed collectors from having their bins and crates on council property, i.e. the berm.
No bin and crate yet.
If they don’t collect my recycling on Monday I shall be depositing it at a KCDC office.

KCDC has told me one reason the collectors want to change the recycling collection to bins is that it is dangerous for the man who has to handle crates, etc. with traffic and the bins use the gadget that reaches out for the bin. This doesn’t quite make sense to me but I can see an end coming to the yellow bags if the safety of the collector is taken to be a valid reason. I make compost and only need to put a bag out every month to six weeks so I don’t want to pay for a weekly service.