Gisborne recycling tidy up

Gisborne District Council rubbish and recycling contractor AllBrites have been tightening up what they will accept in recycling bins. They are doing more sorting kerbside and only taking the items that Council has contracted them to accept for recycling.

“In the past other items have been accepted to encourage Gisborne people to keep up the good work reducing the amount of rubbish going to landfill,” said Council environmental educator Anne Lister. “The amount Gisborne people recycle has continued to increase over the last couple of years but now the recycling collections are having a tidy up. Council has been alerted to some cases where the contractor has been overzealous with their sorting and leaving acceptable recycling behind. This is being rectified.”

“However if residents put containers contaminated with food or items such as polystyrene, chippy packets, planter bags, shrink wrap and plastic toys they will be left in the bin. If a whole bin has been contaminated with broken glass, cigarette ash, disposable nappies and the like, AllBrites can leave behind all the contents,” Mrs Lister added.

“It has always been a requirement that paper and cardboard are kept together, usually by putting it all in a plastic bag. It is difficult to sort if paper is scattered throughout the bin and sticking to things such as wet bottles. It is also timely to remind people in the lead up to Guy Fawkes that spent fire works are not recyclable even though they are made of cardboard. They all must be put in a rubbish bag.”

There has been no change in the recycling contract Council has with AllBrites. All paper, cardboard, milk cartons, plastic bottles and other clean food containers and bags can be put in the black bin. Clean glass jars, bottles, aluminium and tin cans will also be collected.

If people are not sure about what to put in the recycling bin they can check the Council website http://www.gdc.govt.nz/recycling-collection/ or ring the council. A fridge magnet will be delivered to all households in a couple of weeks so that people can use it as a checklist before putting their bin out.