Auckland City Council
Media release

13 June 2008

Recycling wheelie bin deliveries completed

Auckland City Council’s delivery of approximately 150,000 blue-lidded recycling wheelie bins to all eligible properties across the city has finished.

City Development Committee chairperson, Councillor Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga, says the bin deliveries went well and were completed two weeks ahead of schedule.

“Our delivery crews worked very hard over the last three months to deliver close to 3000 bins a day,” says Mr Lotu-Iiga.

“That’s a tremendous effort and now we are ready for the new fortnightly recycling collection to start on Monday, 30 June.”

From that date, residents will use the 240-litre blue-lidded wheelie bins for recycling and the existing red-lidded wheelie bins for household waste. The new recycling bins will be collected every fortnight on the same day as residents’ usual rubbish collection and should be placed on the kerbside either the night before collection or by 7am on the day of collection.

Councillor Lotu-Iiga says it’s important for residents to read the information that was delivered with the recycling bin to familiarise themselves with the new service.

“I urge residents to make sure they know what can and can’t be recycled so that the material placed in the new recycling bin is free from contaminants,” says Mr Lotu-Iiga.

This means making sure that tins and cans, glass bottles and jars, plastic containers and pizza boxes are free of liquids and food scraps. Rinsing containers will also help to minimise odour and keep your bin clean.

“Recycling is everybody’s responsibility and just a little participation, and allowing yourself time to adjust to your new bin and service, means we can minimise contamination, get better recovery rates for recyclables and keep our community clean.”

“Every time we recycle, we are reducing the amount of household waste going to landfill, helping to reduce economic cost, and saving precious natural resources and our environment,” says Mr Lotu-Iiga.

When the new recycling collection starts, residents will not be able to use their existing blue crates for kerbside collections, but can keep them for personal use. Any unwanted crates will be collected by the council. Residents will be notified of collection dates closer to the time through City Scene public notices.

If residents have not received a new blue-lidded recycling wheelie bin or need more information on the new recycling service, they can visit www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/recycling or call 379 2028.

Ends

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