Rewarding results for recycling
Ka pai Hauraki District!
From 1 September – 31 December 2023, our kerbside collection stats show that we had a healthy increase in recycling collected, compared to the same months in 2022. The additional amount of 46 tonnes of recycling plus 68 tonnes of food scraps is equivalent to the weight of 21 elephants being diverted from landfill.
Now that’s worth trumpeting about. Thanks for that gigantic effort!
More good news...
The new Ngātea Recycling and Greenwaste Centre is on track to open on Monday 4 March and soon we'll have household battery collection bins in our Council Service Centres.
Ngātea Recycling and Greenwaste Centre: River Road, Ngātea
- Recycling Bins available 7am-7pm / 7 days
- Green Waste only 12:00 to 4:00pm on Wednesdays and Saturdays (when Council staff will be in attendance).
- Clean recycling can be dropped off free of charge. That includes paper, cardboard, aluminium cans, tins and rigid plastics 1,2,5 and clean glass bottles and jars (no lids).
On the flipside...
On the flip side, kerbside recycling contamination is a problem and has gone up from 3% to 25% (most of that is dirty or inappropriate items buried down in the bins where they can’t be seen). Remember – contamination costs! That's because dirty or incorrect recycling has to be double handled. When it gets to the recycling sorting centre, it first has to be separated out and then there's the additional cost of transport to landfill and landfill fees.
If in doubt on an item, or if it's too hard to clean, leave it out and put it in your rubbish bin. Clean recycling’s a must and remember, place all plastic and glass bottle/jar lids in your rubbish bin (national standard across New Zealand from 1 February).
"Let's keep up the focus on reducing, reusing, repurposing, regenerating and recycling, it's the way to go!"
Toby Adams, Mayor, Hauraki District Council