Published: 12 May 2021

Timaru District Council is beginning the significant process of delivering 22,000 new blue bins as part of its new service from early July.

The new 80 litre blue bins for the separate collection of glass bottles and jars are a new addition to the existing red, yellow and green bins familiar to district residents. The new bins will allow us to separate out glass and significantly reduce contamination from broken glass in the yellow recycling bins.

Council Group Manager Infrastructure Andrew Dixon said that this was the first significant change to the system since it was first introduced over 15 years ago.

“Moving from one bin to three bins in 2005 was a significant change for people, but our community really embraced it as a chance for them to do their bit for the environment and increase the life of our landfill.

“Adding the glass only blue bin enables the community to take the next step and improve how we recycle glass, reducing levels of contamination in our yellow recycling bins and opening new markets for us to better use the glass collected in the district.

“We’d previously been using glass for low value uses such as capping our landfill cells. Separating glass bottles and jars out enables us to send it to a specialist company that will recycle it into bottles for the New Zealand wine industry.

“It’s really important to remember that although this goes some way to improving our recycling performance, it’s really important that we also keep focusing on reducing the other major sources of yellow bin contamination such as unclean or inappropriate items.

“Our community did an amazing job with the introduction of the previous system, so we know they’ll embrace this new move to significantly increase our overall sustainability and further lengthen the life of our landfill.”

The new bins are being delivered throughout May and June prior to the start of the new service in July. People using our stacker crate service will also receive an 80-litre glass only blue bin as part of the service upgrade.

From the week of 5 July (North Zone) and 12 July (South Zone) the glass only blue bin will start to be collected on the same day as the yellow recycling bin.

Red, Yellow and Green bin collection cycles won’t change, and there is no increase in waste minimisation fee for the fourth bin.

Key points to remember:

• The glass only blue bins will be progressively delivered to kerbside from the week commencing 17 May, this will take several weeks so please be patient.
• If you haven’t received a bin by 25 June, please get in touch with us.
• Each bin is uniquely coded to the house to which it’s delivered. There will be an address sticker on the side and an RFID tag embedded in the bin.
• Houses in multi-unit dwellings and with shared driveways need to ensure they pick up the correct bin. Check the sticker on the side.
• Customers with the stacker crate service will also receive a blue bin.
• Once your new bin is delivered, take it onto your property and although you can fill it, it won’t be collected until the week of 5 July.
• If you are going on holiday over this period, you may want to ask a neighbour to take your bin onto your property.

New service details from 5 July (North Zone) 12 July (South Zone):

• Red Bin: Rubbish, non-recyclable materials that goes to landfill including glass other than bottles and jars.
• Yellow Bin: Recyclable packaging only. 1, 2, 5 plastics, steel & aluminium cans, Cardboard and paper. NO GLASS.
• Green Bin: Organics including garden waste and food. No flax, cabbage tree or rhubarb leaves please.
• Blue Bin: Glass bottles and jars only. No lids or window glass, drinking glasses, ceramics or lightbulbs.

For more details about what goes in each bin visit timaru.govt.nz/whatsinmybin

Last updated: 12 May 2021