Items you can put in your recycling
- Glass bottles and glass jars
- Tin, steel and aluminium cans, including empty aerosols
- Plastic bottles from your kitchen, bathroom and laundry
- Clear plastic food containers
- Milk and juice cartons *, including Tetra Pak
® cartons *
- Newspapers, magazines, advertising mail and envelopes **
- Paper and cardboard packaging **
- Egg cartons **
* except on
Great Barrier Island
** except on
Great Barrier Island : they should be bundled or bagged, and put out next to your crate.
Before you recycle:
- Rinse all containers
- Leave lids on all bottles and containers *
- Containers should be no larger than 4 litres
* except on
Great Barrier Island : take lids off all bottles and put in your rubbish bag
Items you cannot put in your recycling
-
Plastic bags (They get caught in the sorting machines)
- Food waste
- Garden waste
- Medical waste
- Building waste
- Chemicals and hazardous waste
- Nappies and sanitary products
- Polystyrene takeaway containers and polystyrene meat trays
- Clothing, shoes and textiles
- Cookware, Pyrex
® and drinking glasses
- Window glass, mirror glass and light bulbs
- Fluorescent tubes and lamps, including Compact Fluorescent Lamps (They contain toxic mercury)
- Electronic and electrical items
- Batteries (Lithium batteries can explode and have been known to cause fires in recycling trucks)
- Pizza boxes (as they are often contaminated by cooking oil and cheese residue)
For items not on this list, see How to get rid of unwanted items.
You can also consult our Recycling guide.
