Recycle like a star on Boxing Day | Ashburton DC
Council is encouraging households to keep up their good recycling habits over the Christmas and New Year period, when volumes of rubbish and recycling typically increase.
Some common recycling mistakes seen at Christmas include foil wrapping paper, ribbons and tinsel being put out for recycling.
Infrastructure and Open Spaces Group Manager Neil McCann said foil, ribbons and tinsel could not be recycled and should be put in the red bin.
“Nor can things like Christmas hams or leftover Christmas food, which are also often found in recycling bins at Christmas time.
“Recycling matters to the environment and we aim to divert as much as we can from going to landfill, where it costs more for ratepayers.”
For kerbside recycling, glass bottles and jars should be rinsed clean and put in the green crate, while the yellow wheelie bin is for recycling that includes hard plastics 1, 2 and 5, cardboard and paper (but not shredded paper). Soft plastics cannot be recycled in your yellow bin.
The red wheelie bin is for rubbish and items that can’t be recycled as part of the kerbside collection.
Mr McCann said the holiday season often saw more contamination in kerbside recycling because visitors didn’t know the district’s recycling rules.
“For example, if you live in Christchurch you can put your clean glass bottles and jars in the yellow bin but in Ashburton we separate them out and collect them separately in the green crate. So if you have family and friends staying over the holiday break then doublecheck the recycling bin when you put it out.
“If your recycling bin isn’t emptied, then it’s because our audit team has found items that can’t be recycled. There’ll be a tag on your bin saying what the problem is.”
Christmas foil and plastic wrapping paper, ribbons, bows and tinsel cannot be recycled in the yellow bin.
Try the tear test - if it can’t be easily ripped, it’s likely to have a plastic coating so put it in the red bin, along with plastic toys and gift packaging. If you’re still not sure, check it out on binitright.nz.
Batteries should be collected separately and taken to the resource recovery park for disposal, not put in the red bin.
Pizza boxes with leftover food in them cannot be recycled.
Lids, plastic or metal and of any size, cannot be recycled in kerbside bins, but they can be taken to your nearest resource recovery park.
Mr McCann thanked the vast majority of residents that followed the recycling rules year round.
“When rubbish contaminates recycling, it means the whole lot has to go to the landfill, which in turn costs ratepayers more money.”
Rubbish and recycling services over Christmas and New Year 2024-25
There is no kerbside rubbish and recycling collection on Christmas Day so Wednesday’s collection moves to Thursday, and Thursday’s collection to Friday, and Friday’s to Saturday.
Kerbside collection services are as normal from Monday 30 December, even on New Year’s Day.
Resource Recovery Parks
The Ashburton Resource Recovery Park will close at 12pm on Tuesday 24 December, and be closed on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. It will be open and operating usual hours from Friday 27 December to Tuesday 31 December.
The resource recovery park will also be closed on New Year’s Day, Wednesday 1 January. The facility will be open on Thursday 2 January and resume normal hours thereafter.
The Methven green waste dropoff will be closed on Wednesday 25 December, and on Wednesday 1 January.
The Rakaia Resource Recovery Park will be closed on Wednesday 25 December and on Wednesday 1 January.
