Manukau residents who don’t recycle properly risk their wheelie bin not being emptied or even taken off them.

In some parts of the city Manukau City Council is trialling a new way of improving problems with the wrong items, like gas bottles and nappies, being put in recycling bins. Recycling bins will only be taken away if people repeatedly ignore warnings about putting the wrong material in the bin.

Manukau City Council’s Waste Management Manager Patricia Facenfield says although the majority of residents are great at recycling, there have been some problems with the wrong items being put in recycling wheelie bins.

“Some people are putting items like carpet, grass clippings, video tapes and even old gas bottles in recycling bins. They definitely cannot be recycled.

“In the coming weeks our collection drivers will be making sure only the right things are being put in recycling wheelie bins.

“A trial is being run in parts of the city that will see orange and red warning tags put on bins of people who don’t recycle properly.  If this new tag system can reduce wrong items being put in the recycling bins it will be used across the whole city.

“If the driver sees anything that can’t be recycled a tag will be put on the bin and it may not be emptied.  If you get two tags in a row, and on the next collection your wheelie still has wrong items in it, the wheelie bin will be taken away.

“It is very clear what can and can’t be recycled, the information is on the sticker under the lid of the recycling bin. The warning tags will show what wrong items have been put into the bin.

“The only way to avoid the inconvenience of not getting your recycling bin emptied is to put the right recycling into it,” says Ms Facenfield.

Although the Visy recycling sorting facility has some of the most advanced sorting technology in the world, workers at the plant have to remove some of the non-recyclable materials by hand.

Any items put in the wheelie bin which cannot be recycled could, harm workers, damage machinery or mean a whole load of recycling has to go to landfill.

Items that cannot be recycled:

• Carpet
• Grass and garden clippings
• Plastic bags, either empty or with rubbish or recycling in them,
• Polystyrene meat trays and cups
• Nappies
• Old shoes and clothing
• Old batteries and video tapes
• Gas bottles
• Garden hose
• Broken mirrors, crockery and window glass. 

Items that can be recycled:

• Paper and cardboard
• Plastic containers and bottles numbered 1 to 7
• Tins and cans
• Glass jars and bottles
• Clean aluminium foil trays/plates
• Empty aerosols.

Broken mirrors, crockery and window glass should be wrapped in layers of paper then carefully smashed into small pieces before being placed in a rubbish bag. This will avoid rubbish collectors being cut when they pick up the bags.

Garden waste and grass clippings should be composted, taken to a refuse transfer station or collected by a garden waste company for composting.

Hazardous waste should be taken to a Hazmobile collection where it can be dropped off for free.

All other material should be placed in a rubbish bag for collection.

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