Kerbside recycling around New Zealand has now been standardised, but the good news for Ashburton District is that there are no changes – we’ve been recycling this way for two years already.

Under the new national rules, only hard plastics 1, 2 and 5 can be recycled in kerbside collections; soft plastic (that you can scrunch with your hand) needs to be put in the rubbish. Tetra packs (like those for juice and milk alternatives) must go in the red rubbish bin, along with all lids (of all sizes, shapes and material). Plastic bottle lids cannot be processed by the sorting machine, however can be recycled if dropped off at the collection bin at the Ashburton Resource Recovery Park.

Pizza boxes may be recycled in the yellow bin, but only if there is no leftover food in them and any cheese is scraped off the bottom.

Infrastructure and Open Spaces Group Manager Neil McCann said Ashburton residents are still able to recycle clean glass containers and bottles in their green kerbside bins, as per the national standards.

“Our district has been ahead of these new national standards for several years and our residents are pretty good at recycling what they can, and disposing what they can’t.

“The one change to come is a few years away, which is a food waste collection, required by the Government before 2027. This is something we will be talking to the community about in our Long Term Plan soon, and we’ll be asking whether a green waste collection should be included with the food waste collection bin.”

Ashburton’s kerbside rubbish and recycling is collected by EnviroNZ and currently taken to Christchurch for sorting by machine.

Council also employs bin auditors who routinely check recycling bins to ensure residents are sticking to the recycling rules.

“Our auditors leave educational material with any non-recyclable items in a brown paper bag, to inform householders what should or shouldn’t be in the yellow bin. Persistent offenders will lose their recycling bins for three months.”

Mr McCann said that standardising recycling around the country was a positive move.

“Now, when our Ashburton District residents travel around, they can take their good recycling habits with them.”

Kerbside bins should be at the kerb on designated collection days by 7.30am, with the windstrap on.

Too much rubbish for your red bin? Contact our customer service team about getting another red bin, or buy official black refuse bags that can be dropped off at Ashburton and Rakaia resource recovery parks at no cost.