Rubbish

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Recycling

Recycling is one way to reduce your rubbish. Recyclable items can be taken to transfer stations or sorted into supermarket size bags and put out with your rubbish for weekly kerbside collection.

What can be recycled?

Plastic bottles and jars (only grades one and two)
- Grade 1: Fizzy, fruit and water bottles; marmite, jam, peanut butter plastic jars, etc.
- Grade 2: Ice cream containers, milk and cream bottles, household detergent bottles.
Plastic shopping and bread bags.
Clean glass jars and bottles, including green, brown and blue glass.
Clean tin and aluminium cans (there is no need to remove the labels).
All paper, including flattened cardboard.

What isn’t accepted for recycling?

Expanded polystyrene, e.g. disposable cups, meat trays, packing, hamburger boxes etc.
Butter, margarine and similar plastic containers.
Hard plastic items, e.g. toys, tools, crates, etc.
Waxed or plastic coated paper or card including milk cartons.
Window or mirror glass, crockery or light bulbs.

Other ways to reduce your rubbish

If you don't need it, don't take it - do you really need that plastic bag to carry your purchase? Can you buy a similar product that has less packaging?
Composting your garden waste and kitchen scraps is a great idea and you can reuse the composted material on your garden. If you can't compost or mulch, separate your garden waste and take it to a transfer station.

Did you know?

Every year we dispose of 3.4 million tonnes of rubbish – nearly a tonne for every man, woman and child in New Zealand.
Rubbish doesn't break down in a landfill. What we throw out stays around for a very long time.
Sixty-five per cent of your rubbish can be recycled or composted.
Every month, New Zealanders dispose of enough rubbish to fill a rugby field to more than 30 storeys high.
Each of us produces three times more rubbish than we did 20 years ago – and we are running out of places to put it.
Burning rubbish releases dioxins into the air, contaminating the atmosphere, and also destroys materials that are recyclable.
Taranaki has a Freecycle group (see website below) which is open to anyone who want to recycle items rather than throw them away.