Recycling this Christmas: Taupō District Council asks for help

EnviroWaste contractors will be hard at work throughout the Taupō district this Christmas.

It’s the week before Christmas and all through the town, contractors are working from sunrise to sundown.

Few work harder over the festive period than EnviroWaste’s recycling collectors, as the Taupō district’s population swells with visiting families and tourists.

Their role might sound simple - sorting recycling at the kerbside before it’s loaded on to the truck- but it’s far from easy.

The recycling contractors struggle to deal with increased volumes of recycling, combined with overfilled bins, bins contaminated with rubbish, boxes that are not broken down and items mixed in one recycling bin.

All of these lead to delays in residents’ recycling collection.

Taupō District Council is asking residents and visitors to think about the people keeping services running through Christmas and help them out by separating recycling into three separate bins.

Plastics (one, two and five only), tin and aluminium should be rinsed clean, and containers should have caps and lids removed before being placed into a green recycling bin.

Clean glass bottles and food jars go in the black recycling bin.

Broken glass, drinking glasses, glass cookware, vases, windows and lightbulbs cannot be recycled at the kerbside in the Taupō District.

Anything dangerous, sharp or pointy should be wrapped in newspaper or cardboard before being put in your rubbish.

Cardboard and paper go together in a cardboard box or a second green recycling bin.

Cardboard boxes should be flattened down to the size of a banana box or smaller.

Oversized or excessive cardboard should be recycled at the transfer station, as it takes up too much room in the truck.

Green bins and black bins for recycling can be picked up from Taupō District Council’s customer and visitor information centres in Mangakino, Taupō and Tūrangi.

Each household is entitled to one green recycling bin and one black recycling bin.

There is no charge to replace a lost or stolen recycling bin, and additional bins and bins for businesses can be bought for $10 each.

Recycling bins and rubbish bags should be kerbside by 7.30am on the area’s collection day, left as close to the kerbside as possible and clear of the footpath.

The good news is, not only does recycling as much as possible help reduce waste, but it also saves money. More in the recycling bin means less rubbish in prepaid rubbish bags or to take to the landfill.

Much of what ends up in the landfill is green waste, such as food scraps or lawn clippings, which could be composted.

Home composting is another great money-saver, and is also great for the environment and the garden.

Taupō District Council holds free, 90-minute learn-to-compost workshops in partnership with Taupō Community Gardens and Awhi Farm in Tūrangi.

To learn about recycling, composting and changes to kerbside collections over Christmas and New Year, visit taupodc.govt.nz.

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