KEY POINTS:
Residents of Auckland and Manukau cities will get to keep their rubbish recycling crates after replacement 240-litre wheelie bins are brought into operation.
Households are presently allowed up to three crates each, and there are an estimated 480,000 in Auckland and another 100,000 in Manukau.
Both councils are encouraging residents to hold on to the crates, coloured blue in Auckland and green in Manukau, for personal use.
But if residents don't want them they will be able to have them collected, in Auckland's case, or for Manukau residents dropped off at a new recycling station to open later this year in Onehunga.
Warwick Jaine, Auckland City's manager of resource recovery, said the crates would be given to residents with the suggestion they be used as interim holders of recyclables before they were tipped into the large bins.
Mr Jaine said a crate collection, probably in mid-July, would allow people to get rid of any unwanted crates which would be melted down and recycled into products like pegs, pipes, or perhaps even crates for other councils.
He already knew of many practical uses people put the crates to - for pot plants, as laundry baskets and as general storage containers. He had heard some were even employed as horse-feed buckets.
Mr Jaine said the distribution of the new bins, not to be used until July, was going smoothly without any confusion as to when they became operable. About 150,000 were being delivered in three stages around the city.
Patricia Facenfield, policy analyst with the Manukau City Council, said the crates had already proven popular on fishing expeditions and were considered an ideal height for painting rooms without stepladders.
"They provide a very stable base."
Ms Facenfield said they were also useful for holding toys, in gardening and for storage in car boots.
But if people did not want them, they could eventually drop them off for recycling. If there was enough demand a one-off collection service might be offered.
CRATE IDEAS
Suggested new uses for your old blue recycling bins:
* Pot-plant holders.
* Horse-feed buckets.
* Fish containers.
* Laundry baskets.
