What’s your 2024 Recycling Week challenge?

Date:

22 Oct 2024, 4:13 pm

Categories:

News

Boy taking a yellow-lid recycling bin to the kerb for collection.

This week is Aotearoa New Zealand’s annual Recycling Week. It’s a time for us all to think about ways we can reduce the amount of waste coming out of our homes and workplaces and increase the goods and materials we collect and treat to be used again, and again.

The basics

Earlier this year, the rules about what can and can’t be recycled through your yellow-lid recycling bin at home changed right across New Zealand.

Here’s a list of what goes in your recycling bin:

Paper and cardboard bigger than an A4 sheet of paper, including pizza boxes cleaned of scraps.
Washed plastic bottles (with lids removed and put into your red-lid rubbish bin).
Plastics larger than 10cm x 10cm and marked with recycling symbols 1, 2, and 5.
Washed aluminium and steel tins and cans with the labels removed and lids inside the can.

If you’ve got extra recycling, take it to the Transfer Station for free!

Some easy Extra credit

Soft Plastics

Keep a bread bag in your kitchen and stuff it with all types of soft plastics from chippie and muesli bar packets, other bread bags, and even the cleaned plastic off meat trays. Then once a month, take your bag off to your local soft plastic recycling spot. You can find these at some supermarkets or check online at Stratford.govt.nz/Recycle

Challenge: Can you fit more than 116 pieces of soft plastic in one bag? That’s our Waste Minimisation team’s top score.

Clothes

Keep your old clothes out of landfill. Clean, good quality clothes can be given to charity second-hand stores. To keep your clothes in action longer, you can repair or upcycle them - there are lots of creative tutorials online. Or, if your favourite pants (not made of nylons or spandex) have totally given out, take off the buttons and zippers and use them for cleaning cloths or dusters, dish brushes, and mops. Inspo online!

Sports Gear

At the start of a new sports season, it’s not uncommon to check kids sports gear and find the boots don’t fit, the bat is too small, or even the ball is the wrong size. How about donating them to your local sports club? Potential new members may want to try a sport but don’t want to outlay for all the gear. If they enjoy it they stay and that’s a bonus for your club, it’s a win-win!

What else can I recycle?

Did you know there’s a light-bulb recycling place in Stratford? Want to know where to take batteries for recycling? Visit Stratford.govt.nz/Recycle and type in your item. Our handy tool will tell you whether it can be recycled and how.