Luxury is not how Maree Pickett describes her island living, especially when she has to transport her rubbish by boat to the closest waste enclosure.

"Wouldn't it be luxury if we could just walk our wheelie bin to the end of our driveway?" she said.

The Kawau Islander was responding to opposition from Sandspit Reserve residents to their home being used as a dumping ground for the island's homeowners and holidaymakers.

Pickett is one of about 40 permanent residents of Kawau Island, one of the largest islands that make up the Hauraki Gulf, only accessible by a boat ride from Sandspit Reserve in Warkworth.

The island also has more than 300 holiday homes, from baches to high-end luxury.

Unlike ratepayers on the mainland, Kawau islanders have to haul their rubbish back to the mainland to a secured enclosure with a pin-code entry-gate on the reserve.

This means Kawau Island's waste and recycling service is fully subsidised by the regional waste targeted rate. Islanders however do not have a food scraps service, and inorganic rubbish collection is self-funded and organised by residents.

Auckland Council's Policy, Planning and Development Committee is considering the future of the Sandspit rubbish enclosure as it is no longer fit for purpose, often targeted by illegal dumping.

Pickett, who runs the ferry business to Kawau with her husband and operates cafes at the two wharves, offers to take islanders' rubbish to the mainland every week for a small cost.

She said she had often witnessed illegal dumping at Sandspit, from the window of her cafe.

Council documents also confirmed that only 13% of rubbish at the enclosure was from Kawau islanders.

"They throw it over the wall, leave it outside or push through the gate if they're tall enough to reach behind the lock.

"Because the posts aren't concreted properly, they move out of alignment too so it doesn't latch properly."

The council is considering four options - the first three introduce a targeted rate for either an upgrade to the current waste enclosure, a new one at a different location on the reserve and a self-transport service to a mainland transfer station with pre-paid bags.

The fourth option is a self-transport, direct-payment rubbish disposal model, requiring Kawau landowners and visitors to take their rubbish and recycling to a mainland transfer station at their own cost.

Auckland Council general manager waste solutions Justine Haves said Kawau ratepayers do not pay the waste management targeted rates that fund kerbside rubbish, recycling, food scraps and inorganic collection services that mainland Aucklanders have.

Sandspit Residents and Ratepayers Association want council to remove the rubbish enclosure and have Kawau residents drive their rubbish to the Warkworth Re-sort facility, more than 5km away.

"Mainland ratepayers are effectively subsidising a private island service. This status quo is illegal, unfair and unsustainable," they said.

However, speaking on behalf of the Kawau Residents and Ratepayers Association, Robert Van Heiningen and Colin Bright said they wanted option A - an upgrade to the current facility.

"Something permanent, that's what we've been after," Van Heiningan said.

Bright said Kawau residents were ready to cover the cost of upgrading the current facility, if council would let them.

"The best solution is that facility where it is now, but properly redesigned, properly landscaped, with a proper base, bleach proofed, so that nothing can leech out into the marina environment and emptied sufficiently frequently."

It would have a roof, with higher walls and caged to prevent illegal dumpers throwing rubbish over the top, Bright said.

"And Kawau islanders and commercial enterprises that support them, have agreed to meet most of the cost of that conversion, provided they know it's not going to be just temporary."

Van Heiningan, who helps organise the inorganic collection from the island, fears if the Sandspit rubbish and recycling enclosure is removed, illegal dumping will be prevalent on Kawau which has a pest-free programme.

He said the first inorganic collection they organised four years ago collected 47 of the three cubic metre rubbish bags. Last year, they collected 32 bags.

"Which indicates to us that nothing has been done for a long period of time. That first load was a massive load, you saw what was in the bags ... stuff that's been on the island for decades.

"And that's one of our biggest fears as owners of properties on the island that support, to some degree, the pest eradication ... the illegal dumping of rubbish on the island that will start to happen."

He said residents know the challenges that come with living on a remote island, and they took extreme care with their rubbish, composting and recycling what they could.

They had no problem paying a targeted rate so they could keep the current Sandspit rubbish enclosure open, he said.

"No one's looking for a free ride here."

Haves said the council committee will discuss the Kawau rubbish report in September, subject to finalisation processes.

"The current review is considering future options for providing waste and recycling services that are appropriate for the island community and financially sustainable."

- LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.