Changes to wheelie bin collections following Ministry for the Environment decision.

The Ministry for the Environment has made changes to what councils throughout the country are allowed to collect in their wheelie bins, which will mean some changes for Timaru District residents.

The new changes are part of the Government’s move to standardise recycling and organics across New Zealand from February 1.

The main changes affecting Timaru District are:

• No paper or cardboard in the GREEN bin. This includes:
  • Pizza boxes and egg cartons – if clean can go in the YELLOW bin.
  • Tea bags and coffee filters – go in RED bin.
  • Paper towels, serviettes or tissues – go in RED bin.
  • Newspaper – goes in the YELLOW Bin
  • ‘Compostable’ marked paper packaging such as coffee cups – go in RED bin.
  • Pet Poo – goes in the RED bin.
• No aluminium foil or aerosol cans in the YELLOW bin – they now go in RED bin.
• No plant pots in the YELLOW bin – they go in the RED bin.

Waste Operations Manager, Grant Hamel said that with its four-bin system already in place, Timaru District was well positioned compared to other areas.

“We here in Timaru are lucky, we are already compliant with what the ministry is aiming to have nationwide by 2030, but we have to some small changes to what we collect.

“For Timaru District residents it is our green bin (food and organics) kerbside collection that is the most affected. We will no longer be able to take paper and cardboard under the new regulations as they may contain polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAs).

“We see a lot of shredded paper, paper towels, and pizza boxes in our green bins, these can no longer go into there. Pizza boxes can go into the yellow bin, as long as all the food scraps have been removed.

“Tea bags will no longer be accepted as most tea bags in New Zealand are made at least partially out of plastic. Loose-leaf tea can still be put in the green bin.

“All compostable packaging has to go in the red bin as some packaging although marketed as compostable, does not break down in our composting systems.

“For the yellow bin, one of the main changes is that we are no longer allowed to collect aerosol cans, aluminium foil or foil trays. These need to go in the red bin.

“While these changes may take a while for our community to adopt it means that from now on the same things should go in the same bins no matter where you are in the country.”

What you can put in your YELLOW bin as of February 1:

• Plastic bottles, trays and containers numbered 1,2 and 5
• Cleaned food tins and drinks cans
• Paper and Cardboard, including clean pizza boxes

What you can put in your GREEN bin as of February 1:

• Food scraps, skins and cores.
• Vegetable scraps, peelings and stalks
• Cooked food
• Bread, grains and pasta
• Dairy
• Egg shells
• Meat and fish bones
• Coffee grounds and loose tea leaves
• Indoor cut flowers
• Garden waste, excluding cabbage tree leaves and flax leaves.

These changes only affect kerbside collections, services at transfer stations are unaffected.

For more information about standardisation of services can be found on the Ministry for the Environment website here: https://environment.govt.nz/what-government-is-doing/areas-of-work/waste/improving-household-recycling-and-food-scrap-collections/