"Yellow-lid recycling bin audit is on its way - recycle just the 'big six' items or your yellow-lid bin won’t be collected."

The Whakatāne District Council is reminding people of the six things that can be recycled in yellow-lid bins ahead of an audit of the town's recycling practices.

Cardboard and cans, paper and tins - plastics with the one and two logos are all recyclable. So please, don’t treat yellow-lid bins like rubbish, Council says.

Last September, Whakatāne District Council ran a campaign to clean up kerbside yellow-lid bin recycling. Unfortunately Council’s rubbish and recycling contractor, Waste Management NZ Ltd, reports the level of contamination hasn’t really changed. So an audit of recycling was announced prior to Christmas and it’s coming soon.

Council Manager Solid Waste, Nigel Clarke, says the audit is necessary to help determine exactly how widespread the problem is and to provide a consequence for those who refuse to do the right thing. 

The on-street audit, taking place in March, will identify offending bins and leave them unemptied on the street. The unemptied bins will have a green sticker attached to them identifying the non-recyclable products. The trucks will not return to stickered bins, but they will be emptied two weeks later if the non-recyclable goods and sticker have been removed.

"During March we'll be reminding people about the six recyclable yellow-lid bin items - cardboard and cans, paper and tins, plastics one and two - and why they shouldn’t put other items in this bin.

Contaminated recycling leads to truckloads of recyclable products entering the waste stream. This is an expensive and unnecessary waste of time and money, it’s not good for the environment and it's not fair on those doing the right thing," Mr Clarke says.

Yellow-lid kerbside recycling bins should only contain clean paper, cardboard, tins, cans and plastics grades 1 and 2. For plastics, check the recycling symbol which is usually on the bottom of the product - and only put Plastics 1 and 2 in the yellow-lid bins.

"Or even better - look for ways of purchasing fewer products using 3 to 7 plastics. And remember, only greenwaste goes in your greenwaste bin." Mr Clarke says.