Ways to Reduce waste

We generally consider waste as something we no longer have a use for, but some of it can often be viewed as a resource that we throw away.

We encourage you to recycle and reuse as much waste as possible to reduce the amount sent to landfill.

Reduce Waste

Become a smart shopper

By reducing your rubbish you can:

• Reduce demands on natural resources
• Reduce the amount of material disposed in landfills
• Reduce disposal costs for the Council and ratepayers
• Save money on weekly grocery bills (products with less packaging cost less)
• Use products you’ve recycled yourself, such as compost and paper, instead of buying them

Some easy steps to reduce your rubbish

The following steps can dramatically reduce what ends up in your rubbish bin each week:

• Buy products that use less packaging (economy size, refills or concentrates)
• Buy products packaged in recyclable material, such as paper, cardboard, glass, aluminium, tin or rigid plastic containers - not plastic film
• Avoid or reduce the use of disposables (razors, pens, plates and cups)
• Take your own cloth bags to the supermarket for groceries
• Buy products with recycled content in them - this means fewer natural resources are used, and there is less waste produced in the long run
• Re-use boxes and jars for storage, and keep wrapping paper and ribbons for future use
• Think before you throw something away - resell or donate re-usable toys, books, appliances, furniture, sports equipment and clothing to charities or your local 'Op Shop'
• Take old appliances, furniture and bikes to a second-hand shop or reuse centre rather than the transfer station
• Collect paper, cardboard, tins, cans and rigid plastics (grade 1, 2 & 5) in your yellow lid bin for the fortnightly recycling collection
• Use your recycling crate for glass bottles and jars
• If you have a garden, you can compost your grass clippings and tree prunings as well as fruit and vegetable scraps
• If you don’t have room to compost, use a worm bin indoors to dispose of kitchen scraps
• Avoid junk mail
• Avoid prepacked whole fruit and vegetables (take your own cloth bags)
• Buy products with less packaging (bulk, economy size and concentrates)
• Buy products in recyclable containers or packaging (tin, aluminium, rigid plastics 1, 2 & 5, glass)
• Use reuseable shopping bags
• Buy long life products, not disposables
• Buy products made with recycled content
• Shop at environmentally aware businesses

Love Food Hate Waste

• There are lots of planning ideas, recipes and tips on using up food in your home before it gets to the point of being wasted
• For practical tips on how to reduce your own food waste and save money visit www.lovefoodhatewaste.co.nz

Reuse

• Donate or resell used items (clothing, toys, books, appliances, furniture, sports equipment)
• Hauraki has two reuse centres where you can drop off unwanted items that could be repurposed or repaired to be used by others.
• Reuse your own greenwaste and kitchen vegetable scraps in your home compost
• Repurpose items, e.g.
  • jars, tins, boxes for storage
  • worn clothing, sheets, towels for cleaning cloths or rags
  • paper or plastic items for crafts

Recycle

Recycle at the kerbside

Put the following CLEAN items out for recycling at the kerbside, instead of in your rubbish bin:

• clean rigid plastic, grades 1, 2 and 5 only - drink and sports bottles, water bottles, milk bottles, cleaning products and personal care bottles (shampoo, conditioner and body wash)
• clean tins/cans
• paper and cardboard
• glass bottles and jars (empty and clean)

Soft plastics (plastic bags) cannot go into the kerbside recycling bins but they can go into the soft plastics bin at:

• Countdown, Paeroa
• New World, Waihī
• Four Square, Ngātea
• Hauraki Reuse and Repair Centre
• Refuse transfer stations, Paeroa and Waihī.

Make sure there are no other items in your recycle bins that will contaminate the collection. See more about recycling - Let's Talk Rubbish.

Recycle at the Transfer Stations

The following CLEAN Recyclable materials are accepted at Hauraki District Council Refuse Transfer Stations at Paeroa and Waihī:

• Aluminium cans
• Paper
• Cardboard
• Scrap metal
• Plastics - rigid plastic grades 1, 2 and 5
• Glass
• Soft plastics e.g. plastic bags and plastic wrapping
• Tetra Pak cartons - juice, milk and other beverages
• Car bodies (Clean condition with seat and tyres removed, petrol tank pierced and all other fluids removed)
• Car batteries
• Tyres - up to 5 free per visit (Clean, dirt-free and rims removed)
• LPG Bottles (a fee is charged)
• Oil
• Wire Fencing is accepted as long as the batons and posts are REMOVED