COVID-19 Information

Here you'll find information and updates from Council in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last updated: Thursday 14 April 2022

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Traffic light setting: Orange

The Western Bay of Plenty District is currently at Orange.

Vaccine passes

Vaccine passes are no longer required upon entry to Council facilities and events.

Face masks

Face masks are still required when visiting our libraries and service centres.

Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) community collection sites

Rapid antigen tests (RATs) can be ordered on the Bay of Plenty DHB website, and then collected at a collection site.

This is for:

• people with COVID-19 symptoms or who are a household contact
• critical workers who are household contacts
• border workers who are required to be tested under the Required Testing Order.

See here for a list of collection sites in the Bay of Plenty.

Kerbside collections

Food scraps have been temporarily removed from kerbside collections due to COVID-19 staff shortages until further notice. (Glass collections returned on Monday 11 April).

The team continues to work on getting food waste collections back online. Until then you can freeze your food waste, add it to your worm farm or compost, or as a last resort – place it in the red lid rubbish bin.

Recycling and greenwaste centres

Please note there is a change in hours for the Athenree and Katikati recycling centres from Monday 7 March until further notice. There are no changes to Te Puke recycling centre or Ōmokoroa greenwaste centre:

Vaccine passes will not be used at any of our recycling centres. However please continue to keep a safe distance from others and wear a face mask.

Before visiting the centre please note the following processes put in place for everyone’s safety:

• Stay home if you feel unwell
• Scan in
• Wear a face mask
• Keep 2 metres away from other people
• Cardboard must be flattened before arrival to limit time on-site
• Separate recyclables prior to arrival for easy drop-off into plastics, glass, paper, tins/can and cardboard
• No cash – Eftpos with paywave only for greenwaste drop-off

Council meetings

Council, committee, community board and ward forum meetings will also begin to be held in-person again, however we will continue to livestream.

Council and committee meetings via our YouTube channel here.

Noise control

Due to COVID-19 staff shortages, our compliance team is having to revert to its summer noise control policy. This means two noise complaints will need to be received by Council before an enforcement officer will attend a noise complaint.

Parks and playgrounds

All playgrounds and reserve facilities are open including playgrounds, public toilets, picnic tables, drinking fountains and public barbecues.

Ensure you continue to follow safe social distancing, staying 2m away from others.

Barkes Corner head office, libraries and services centres

All library and service centres are open across the Western Bay. Vaccine passes are not required, however face masks are still mandatory.

To help everyone maintain distancing, signs and floor markings have been installed at all facilities.

Surfaces at Council library and service centres will be frequently cleaned and hand sanitiser will be available for visitors to use.

TECT Park

TECT Park is open as normal.

Suppliers

As a Council, we are committed to maintaining a safe and healthy environment for our employees, contractors, service providers and customers.

From 17 January 2022, Council will require all Council suppliers who work at our offices and facilities to be fully vaccinated. This will apply at all levels of Government’s COVID-19 Protection Framework

We have not made this decision lightly, however its important that we meet our health and safety obligations to protect our people and communities.

All appropriate COVID-19 health, hygiene and safety measures will remain in place at our offices and facilities such as face masks, hand sanitising, physical distancing and contact tracing.

We will continue to review our approach on vaccination as more information becomes available from the Government.