Kerbside recycling collection

Sometimes eager recyclers may want to recycle things we don’t collect through our kerbside collection. But there are really good reasons not to do that.

Your recycling may get left behind if the wrong things are in your crate. We know this is frustrating when you were trying to do the right thing. The ultimate aim is to be able to make new products – and mixing them or including the wrong items means this does not happen.

1. It costs time and money
   The average recycling service crew member will collect 500 to 750 crates each day, taking an average 12 seconds to collect and empty each crate. Having to stop and sticker incorrect crates doubles this time and creates additional operating costs – paid for out of rates.
2. It reduces the quality of recycling
   If it’s not spotted by our crew in the short time they have to look at each crate, mixed or dirty recycling becomes a problem at the sorting facility. All recycling is sorted by hand to remove items that shouldn’t be there (such as the wrong types of plastic or items with food on them) but with hundreds of items passing sorters each minute they may miss some items.
   The sorted products are bailed for transport to re-processors to be turned into something new. If the levels of wrong or dirty items are too high the entire bale may be rejected and sent to landfill instead, meaning everybody’s good efforts have gone to waste.
3. It may cause safety issues or damage the recycling machinery
   Having the wrong items in a sorting line can also cause issues if it’s going through a system not designed to process it. It may jam or damage the machinery and create a hazard for workers.
4. Only accepted items go on to be recycled
   The facilities that take our recycling only have the ability to recycle the items we accept at the kerbside – that’s why they have been selected for recycling. Rejected items from the sorting line will go to landfill.

Plastic and cans

Plastics stamped with a 1, 2 or 5 are sorted from the cans in a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF), in Kopu (near Thames) or Masterton.

Paper and cardboard

Our paper and cardboard goes straight from kerbside to local company Hawk Packaging who turn it into fruit trays.

Glass

Our glass goes to Visy Auckland.

Using crates to separate items ensures we have the cleanest recycling possible. The high quality of material collected guarantees it will be recycled.

In Hastings, separating recycling allows paper and cardboard to be collected separately and dropped directly to Hawk Packaging to be made into fruit trays, saving on double-handling and transport costs and emissions. it is especially important to keep glass separate from paper and cardboard, as there can’t be any fragments of glass in it for health and safety reasons.

While wheelie bins are simple to use, the quality of recycling that comes out of the mixed recycling wheelie bins has proved to be much lower in the regions using them. Typically, wheelie bin systems also mean all recycling is mixed in together and requires sorting, which costs much more.

Council will start accepting number 5 plastics in kerbside and drop off recycling services from 1 March 2022.

Council stopped collecting this type of plastic, along with numbers 3, 4 6 and 7, in 2019 due to China’s decision to restrict accepting plastics and the dramatic impact that had on world recycling markets, alongside an increased focus on finding ways to recycle onshore. 

Since that time, Council has been working closely with its recycling contractor Smart Environmental to find a way to sustainably recycle these products within New Zealand. In December 2021, Smart Environmental merged with Earthcare Ltd in Masterton, which has facilities that enable the plastics to be sorted into the correct different types by optical lasers, ensuring that the processed plastics are of a high quality that can be recycled by New Zealand re-processors.

Number 5 containers can go in the same crate with your number 1 & 2 plastics and cans. You can put out multiple crates of the same items (for example two crates of paper), but don’t mix the different categories in the same crate. Any crate, just separate rule.

No. The same rule applies wash, squash, lids off.

We can’t accept lids, even numbers 1, 2 or 5. Because they’re generally flat or small, the sorting machine has difficulty detecting them and they can end up in the wrong recycling stream or can fall out of recycling bales.

Lids go in the rubbish or you can recycle them at the Hawke’s Bay Environment Centre via their specialist recycling programme.

No. There will be no additional costs or increase in rates with this change.

We don’t anticipate number 5s taking up a huge amount of space in your plastics crate, however if they do you can take them to your local recycling depot – who are also now accepting 5s.

Don’t forget that our crates are interchangeable. You can put out multiple crates with the same items (for example two crates of plastics and cans), but don’t mix the different categories.

Your number 5s will go to our contractor’s facilities in Masterton, here the plastics to be sorted into the correct different grade by optical lasers, ensuring that the processed plastics are of a high quality that can be recycled by New Zealand re-processors.

We can't recycle plastic with the numbers 3, 4, 6 or 7. Please put items with these numbers in your rubbish bag.

We’ll always be on the lookout for new recycling options, but don’t predict being able to collect any of these numbers in the near future. The best thing to do is to try and reduce the purchasing of plastics all together.

No. Our recycling stations will be taking number 5s too. Find your nearest recycling station here.

The easiest way to check if an item is recyclable or not is to look for the numbered triangle. Look for numbers on the bottom of plastics.

Using crates ensures that we have the cleanest recycling possible and guarantees that it will be recycled. Our collectors can easily spot items that shouldn’t be there, still have food inside or are too dirty.

In Hastings, it is especially important to keep our glass separate from paper and cardboard. This paper and cardboard is sent locally to Hawk Packaging where it gets made into fruit trays. Fragments of glass would be a health and safety hazard.

The math adds up. A weekly collection of three 45 litre crates equates to 270 litres of recycling collected every fortnight. A standard sized wheelie bin used for fortnightly recycling collections is only 240 litres – so this way you actually get more space.

Unfortunately we don’t accept pot plant containers in our recycling services for a few reasons: They’re often contaminated with dirt; they can carry disease – leading to more contamination; and they’re usually dark plastics – which can’t be picked up by recycling facility machines and cause problems in the sorting process.

The good news is that some places do. Mitre 10 accept clean plant and seedling pots and labels made of plastic ID 5. You can read more about their Pot Recycle Service here.