How to dispose of weeds

​Pest plants can go in your general household rubbish bins, but general green (garden) waste cannot.

Auckland Council does not offer a green waste collection service.

Compost and mulch weeds

Compost your general weeds and green waste in a closed compost bin or special weed bags. Check our Pest search to see which weeds are safe to compost.

You can also use mulch on your garden to help reduce weed growth or compost-down your weeds and mix them with the soil, as long as fertile weed seeds are destroyed in the process.

You can only compost weeds considered as pest plants, like moth plant, through a private green waste collection service and not in your garden.

Where you can put your weeds

Rubbish bins

You can put small amounts of pest plants in your rubbish bin, but not general green waste. For a larger amount of pest plants, you must organise a private collection or take them to a transfer station. 

Visit What you can put in your rubbish for more information.

Transfer stations

Most transfer stations accept green waste, including general weeds and pest plants. Check with your local station before you go.

Waitākere Ranges community weed bins for pest plants

If you live in the Waitākere Ranges Local Board area, you can dispose of pest plants for free at community weed bins. This will help prevent weeds from spreading.

We want more people to control pest plants on their property. The community weed bins provide a free, easy and accessible pest plant disposal service.

Permanent weed bin locations

There are permanent free weed bins at:

• Piha Domain, Seaview Road
• Huia Domain, Huia Road.

Temporary weed bin locations

There are 'pest weed bin weekends' in some locations across the Waitākere Ranges Local Board area. During these weekends you can dispose of your pest plants in weed bins all weekend from 8am on the Saturday (except for the Swanson location). In Swanson you can only use the bins during the specified weekends from 9am to 4pm.

An EcoMatters staff member is available to provide weed advice at all listed locations on Saturdays, from 9am to 3pm.

Dates and locations for pest weed bin weekends

What you can put in the community weed bins

The community bins are only for pest plants, such as:

• climbing asparagus
• honeysuckle
• jasmine
• moth plant
• plectranthus
• privet – Chinese privet and tree privet (small branches only)
• tradescantia (also known as Wandering Willie)
• wild ginger (seed heads and roots only – please compost the green stems onsite at your property)
• woolly nightshade (seeds, roots and small branches only).

What you cannot put in the community weed bins

If you use the bins for plants and green waste that we do not accept, you could make this service more expensive and less available for everyone. We do not accept:

• general green waste
• bamboo
• large branches
• tree trunks
• nīkau / palm trees or fronds
• cabbage trees
• general green garden waste and weeds from around kauri trees (to prevent kauri dieback spreading).

Order a private weed collection

Call a private garden company to collect your green garden waste. They supply bins or bags.
There is a cost for this service.

More information

Visit the EcoMatters website to find out more on how you can dispose of weeds.