With contamination of glass recycling causing concern, Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) would like to remind residents to recycle with care during the COVID-19 lockdown.

While this is a stressful – and often confusing – time for all of us, it’s good to remember that essential services are continuing and glass is still being recycled as usual.

The district has done very well recycling glass since the three-bin kerbside service was launched in July 2019. Our recent kerbside audit of rubbish and recycling showed very low rates of contamination in glass at just 1.2%. This reflects high engagement and faith in recycling, and is a fantastic result off the back of a big community effort that has so far resulted in over 2,000 tonnes of glass being sent to O-I in Auckland for recycling.

QLDC General Manager Property and Infrastructure Peter Hansby said it was important the community kept up its momentum and continued in its effort to help Queenstown Lakes become a zero waste district.

“We acknowledge that getting it right with your bins might not be front of mind at the moment,” Mr Hansby said.

“However, it’s really important that we don’t start bad habits and keep up the great work we’ve seen so far. Put your bins out when you normally would and continue to place mixed recycling in the yellow bin, glass in the blue bin, and rubbish in the red bin.”

Mr Hansby acknowledged that mixed recycling is currently going to landfill. This is because the Frankton Materials Recovery Facility is currently closed to ensure the safety of the staff employed to sort the material by hand; however, this is not the case for glass, which is recycled through a different process that doesn’t put staff at risk.

“We are thrilled with the low levels of contamination shown in the recent kerbside audits and encouraged by our community’s commitment to recycling and waste reduction. Let’s keep it going.”

Queenstown Lakes is the first district in Aotearoa New Zealand to implement a glass wheelie bin system with the intended outcome of bottle-to-bottle recycling via reprocessing at the O-I factory. Glass recycling is extremely sensitive to contamination, so we have to ensure that the standard of our district’s glass is of a high quality.

This is why it’s so important that only clean glass bottles and jars, and nothing else, go into the blue bin.

If your scheduled collection day falls on Good Friday, Friday, 10 April bins will be picked up on Saturday, 11 April. Continue to put your bins out when you normally would.

QLDC is continuing to support waste reduction initiatives during Alert Level 4, including the April Waste Free with Kate workshops which will be delivered online for the first time.

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