Phasing out plastics

Clutha residents are encouraged to reduce the use of plastics. It regularly ends up as waste in our landfills. It can be difficult to recycle packaging and products. Plastics interfere with our recycling systems and are often used only once before being disposed.

You can recycle some of the plastics in your household by placing them in your recycling wheelie bin (yellow lidded) or taking them to a collection point. You can recycle clean plastic bottles, trays and containers marked with 1, 2 and 5 (♳, ♴ and ♷).

The Government has introduced new regulations to phase out problematic plastics. Products banned or phased out from 1 July 2023 are:

• Single use plastic drinking straws
• Single use plastic tableware and cutlery
• Single use plastic produce bags
• Non-home compositable plastic produce labels (Update: Home compostable label requirements for all produce sold in New Zealand will be extended from 1 July 2025 to 1 July 2028)

For an overview of the products included in these bans visit The Ministry for the Environment website. The guidance includes a description of the banned products, and information about exemptions and suggested alternatives