What you can put in your recycling

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 (except on Great Barrier Island)
Paper, newspapers, magazines, advertising mail and envelopes (except Great Barrier Island: they should be bundled or bagged, and put out next to your crate)
Pizza boxes (remove any leftover food) and cardboard packaging (except Great Barrier Island: they should be bundled or bagged, and put out next to your crate)
Egg cartons (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 (except on Great Barrier Island: take lids off all bottles and put in your rubbish bag).
Containers should be no larger than 4 litres.

Items you cannot put in your recycling

Soft plastic and plastic bags *
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)

* The material gets caught in the sorting machine at the recycling plant and can be a significant hazard and risk - read more about how to reduce soft plastic use.

For items not on this list, see How to get rid of unwanted items.

You can also see the Recycling guide.

Recycling guide

PDF download 1.4 MB

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