Marketing review of paper rubbish bags

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33579, 6 July 1974, Page 14

Marketing review of paper rubbish bags

Marketing arrangements for the official Christchurch blue-printed paper rubbish bags were being reviewed by the manufacturer. N.Z. Forest Products, Ltd, said the company’s South Island manager (Mr L. J. Miers) yesterday.

The review, a norma) marketing practice, was not aimed at the Christchurch City Council’s 7c rubbish collection fee, he said. The fee is collected by the company, which includes it in the price it charges its distributors for the bags. Mr Miers was referring to a news item in “The Press” yesterday, in which the review was associated with the collection of the fee. “As well as the review, we would also want to confer with the council when the scheme has been working a little longer, to make any necessary changes,” he said. MAYOR’S COMMENT But the Mayor of Christchurch (Mr N. G. Pickering), said that although the com-| pany had made submissions to the council on collec-j tion. it had not supplied a tender for next year’s stocks. "The council did not want! submissions, it wanted ten-i ders.” he said.

“We got tenders from; manufacturers of plastic: bags, but we could not) change the rules and accept; these ’submissions,’ as Mr] Miers calls them, as even ; approaching a tender,” said Mr Pickering. “The public should not be misled by this talk of ‘submissions.’ Mr Miers did suggest that people be allowed the use of either plastic or; paper bags, but what he does not say is that the ‘submissions’ did not allow the householder to have any free baps. “In other words. Mr Miers’ is suggesting that the house- | holder can have either plastic or paper hags, but has to pav for them. This is not what we regard as being in i the best interests of the rate- 1 ] payers—and we will continue i

with the supply of 52 free bags to each household. PRICE NOT MATCHED’ “1 can also say that the tenders we have received from plastic-bag manufacturers for the 1975-76 supply are. in spite of the increase in the price of plastic, still lower than the price quoted for paper bags last year.

“It is quite obvious why Mr Miers and his company did not tender for the supply of next year’s bags—bag for bag, they could not match the price, and they knew it,” Mr Pickering said.