Outdoor Street Furniture (OSF) supplies New Zealand councils with public recycling bins, park benches, and picnic tables for parks, reserves, town centres, transport hubs, sports grounds, and coastal foreshores. Our range is built for long asset lives and the practical realities of public space — high traffic, weather exposure, vandalism resistance, and easy servicing for parks teams and contractors. All products are made to order with a 2-year warranty and delivered to council depots, contractors, or installation sites anywhere in NZ.
Specifying for the public realm
Council asset managers, parks teams, landscape architects, and procurement officers buy on a different curve to a private buyer. The brief isn’t “looks nice on the deck” — it’s cost-per-year-in-service, public safety, accessibility, vandal resistance, and serviceability for the contractors who will be maintaining the asset for the next decade or more.
Auckland Council’s own Auckland Design Manual sets a useful benchmark. Bins should support easy servicing and replacement, with sensible lid and liner design. Picnic tables and seating should aim for a long service life, with all components serviceable by NZ-based contractors. These are the standards we design our council range around.
Public recycling bins (our most-specified council product)
Bins are the workhorse of any public space and the OSF product councils order most. The wrong bin specification is a long-running cost: rust-out, lid failures, awkward servicing, capacity that doesn’t match foot traffic, and visual blight from a unit that’s already past its prime in year three.
Dual-Compartment Recycling Bin
The Dual-Compartment Recycling Bin is our most popular council bin. It’s a sleek, contemporary unit built around a galvanised steel structure with composite wood detailing, designed to give council buyers a single elegant footprint that handles two waste streams.
Why councils choose it:
- Two clearly delineated compartments — typically configured as general waste and mixed recycling, supporting the dual-stream collections councils now run as standard
- Galvanised steel construction for durability and corrosion resistance in everyday public space conditions
- Composite wood detailing that softens the unit visually and helps it sit naturally into both contemporary and heritage streetscapes
- Smooth flat exterior that’s easy to clean and graffiti-resistant
- Single-footprint design that takes up the same paving area as a traditional single bin, making it easy to retrofit into existing parks and town centres
For larger sites, foreshores, or projects with stronger sustainability or coastal exposure requirements, we have alternative bin configurations — including triple-compartment, slimline, and stainless options — that are worth a conversation during specification.
Park benches for council projects
BlocBench
The BlocBench is our council bench of choice — solid timber slats over thick powder-coated steel legs in a clean, backless design. It fits naturally into most NZ park, reserve, and town centre contexts, including heritage streetscapes, suburban shopping streets, and contemporary public space projects.
Why councils choose BlocBench:
- Backless design that lets users sit either way and reads as visually open in a streetscape — important in busy urban settings
- Solid timber slats for a warm, natural finish and a long-recognised public-space aesthetic
- Thick powder-coated steel legs for structural strength under heavy public use
- Replaceable timber components so a damaged slat can be swapped rather than scrapping the whole asset — the kind of serviceability councils need to keep an asset in service for many years
Picnic tables — accessibility as standard
Wheelchair Accessible Picnic Table
The Wheelchair Accessible Picnic Table is the picnic table we most often recommend for council projects, because it’s the design that lets the broadest range of park users participate. Wheelchair users can pull right up to the end of the table without transferring out, and ambulatory visitors use the bench seating as normal.
Specifying accessible picnic tables across a parks network — rather than treating them as a “specialist” addition for one or two reserves — is increasingly the council standard. It avoids creating a two-tier park experience and aligns with the inclusive-design direction most NZ councils are moving in.
Other picnic table configurations (standard A-frame, alternative materials) are also available — talk to us during specification if you need a mix across a site.
Materials, certificates and documentation
- Stainless steel: Grade 304 standard, marine-grade 316 available for coastal and high-corrosion sites.
- Galvanised and powder-coated steel: Used across our most-specified council products.
- Timber components: Sustainably sourced, treated for outdoor exposure.
- Composite wood: Low-maintenance visual warmth.
- Material certificates: Available on request — useful for procurement records, asset registers, and tender responses.
- Specification sheets and dimensioned drawings: Available on request for council projects. Please flag your requirements early in the specification phase so we can prepare what you need.
- Warranty: 2 years on all products.
Procurement and supply
- Quotes: GST inclusive, on documents your procurement team can attach to RFP and tender responses, with itemised pricing, lead times, and freight.
- MOQ: 5 units per product. Council orders typically clear this comfortably; smaller pilot orders can usually be combined across product types.
- Lead times: 8–10 weeks from order confirmation. Larger council orders should be planned at least 10–12 weeks ahead of installation milestones to allow for any custom configurations.
- Made to order: All products are manufactured to order against your specification.
- Delivery: Direct to council depot, contractor yard, or installation site. Nationwide delivery, including the South Island and provincial regions.
Frequently asked questions
What’s the most popular OSF product with NZ councils? Our Dual-Compartment Recycling Bin is the product councils order most. It’s specified for parks, reserves, town centres, and main-street streetscape projects across the country, and gives council buyers a single elegant footprint that handles two waste streams.
Can we order more than two waste streams in one footprint? Yes — we have alternative bin configurations, including triple-compartment and slimline multi-stream options. Talk to us at the specification stage and we’ll match the configuration to your collections set-up.
What’s the lead time on a council order? 8–10 weeks from order confirmation. We recommend planning at least 10–12 weeks ahead of installation milestones for larger orders to allow for staged delivery and any custom configurations.
Can you provide specifications and drawings for our tender pack? Material certificates are available on request. Specification sheets and dimensioned drawings can also be made
