Kerbside Recycling FAQs

Glass is excluded from kerbside recycling collection because of the significant costs involved in collecting, colour sorting and transporting this material.

You can drop off glass for free at the Mt Cooee Landfill and the Clinton, Lawrence, Milton, Owaka and Tapanui transfer stations.

Only clean rigid plastic containers, numbered 1, 2 and 5 can be put in your yellow-lidded bin. Lids, triggers and pumps must be removed from plastic bottles, pottles and containers.

The main drivers for a two-bin scheme are environmental awareness, community demand and government legislation. By recycling we reduce the amount of waste going to landfill and therefore reduce the amount of waste levies and emissions charges

Collection alternates between yellow-lidded bins one week and green-lidded bins the next. You can download a calendar from Council’s website if you need help remembering which bin goes out on which week. Put your bin out by 7am on your collection day - check our website if you are unsure what day bins are collected in your area.

The rules around what can and can’t go in each bin have been made to protect the health and safety of staff and to ensure a cost-effective and efficient service is provided to ratepayers. The success of the service relies on everyone putting the right items in the right bins. Contamination is taken seriously, with a “three strikes” system meaning that if contamination is found in your bin after two warnings your service will be suspended for three months.

Try reducing the amount of waste you create, composting your kitchen and garden wastes and using items more than once. If you still have too much waste for your wheelie bins to handle you can take your excess waste to the Mt Cooee landfill or one of Council’s ten waste transfer stations.

No - in the interests of waste minimisation only one set of bins is provided to each property. Additional waste is the responsibility of the householder and can be disposed of at the Mt Cooee landfill or one of Council’s ten waste transfer stations.

Our waste management services provider, WasteCo, takes the material to Dunedin for sorting from where it is sent to a variety of places in New Zealand and overseas for processing.

Contact Council on 0800 801 350 or email help.desk@cluthadc.govt.nz

Some people may find that their green/red-lidded wheelie bin is a bit smellier now that it's only emptied once a fortnight. However, there are some easy ways to reduce the risk of this happening:

• Reduce the amount of garden and food waste going in the bin - consider home composting, using a bokashi bucket or visit here to learn how to reduce your food waste.
• If you must put food waste in your bin place it in a plastic bag and tie firmly before putting in the bin.
• Store the bin in a cool, shaded place.
• Keep the lid closed at all times.
• Yellow-lidded bins should not get smelly as they should only contain clean, non-organic material.

A small number of people have found that their bins have only been half emptied on their collection day. This seems to be happening when rubbish is compacted too tightly in the bin and gets stuck. To ensure that your bin is fully emptied in the future don't compact the rubbish in the bin. Remember, the bin must not weigh more than 30kg, if you need to compact your waste your bin probably weighs more than this.

If you're finding that your green/red-lidded bin is filling up quicker than it is emptied there are some simple things you can do to solve this:

• Make sure that all your recyclables are going in your yellow-lidded recycling bin.
• Reduce the amount of garden and food waste going in the bin by composting, worm farming and/or using Bokashi buckets. More information on reducing food waste can be found here.
• Reduce the amount of waste you create;
• say no to un-necessary packaging and
• avoid buying products you know will only have a short life, such as disposable and one-use items.
• Think reduce and re-use before recycle or dispose.
• Drop off your glass bottles and jars for free at the Mt Cooee landfill and the Clinton, Lawrence, Milton, Owaka and Tapanui transfer stations.
• If you still have too much waste for your bin remember that you can dispose of excess waste at one of Council's ten transfer stations or the Mt Cooee landfill. As from 1 July 2012 a 50% discount is applied to garden waste disposed at Mt Cooee meaning the cheapest option if you have excess waste is to is take your garden waste to the landfill and use your green/red-lidded bin for other waste.
• If you have more recyclables than can fit in your yellow-lidded bin you can recycle these for free at Mt Cooee and the Clinton, Lawrence, Milton, Owaka and Tapanui transfer stations.