Christchurch residents are paying up to $13,000 a month to replace their lost or stolen wheelie bins.
The Christchurch City Council is charging as much as $132 for replacement bins if they go missing after being left out after 11pm, or if they are not reported missing within 24 hours.
At today's council meeting, a staff member, Tammara McKernan, was asked if the council could exercise discretion for the 100 people caught out this way each month.
She said this would be difficult because if they let some people off they would have to let everybody off.
Councillors asked Ms McKernan to look at micro-chipping the bins so the council could check they had not been stolen.