Recycle

An easy guide to what can be recycled in Whangārei as well as information about composting and free local composting workshops. You'll reduce the waste you send to landfill, save money in disposal fees, and help save the planet!

Why recycle?

Recycling reduces the amount of raw materials needed to produce the new products that we consume.

Clean items first

If items aren't clean they can't be recycled. 

What can be recycled in Whangārei?

In our District we collect number 1, 2, and 5 plastics, aluminium and tin cans, glass bottles and jars of all colours, and paper and cardboard through our kerbside recycling collection as well as at our rubbish and recycling stations.

Kerbside rubbish and recycling collection

Rubbish transfer stations

• Make sure you and your whānau are familiar with what can and cannot be recycled kerbside
• It’s important to sort our recycling to ensure we are not contaminating it with items that cannot be recycled
• Make sure you know where your nearest rubbish and recycling station is and what items they accept
• Find out what to do with items that can’t be recycled kerbside

Recycling e-waste

The diagram below shows what can be recycle in your kerbside collection.

• Put plastics numbered 1, 2, and 5, aluminium and tin cans into your red bin.
• Use your blue bin for glass bottles and jars of all colours.
• Paper and cardboard should be flattened and put in a small box or paper bag.

Compost

For unavoidable food waste like eggshells and banana skins that you wouldn’t normally eat, composting is a great option. Food scraps are valuable organic resources that can contribute to greenhouse gas emissions if they are sent to landfill. Don’t let a good thing go to waste and instead return the nutrients to the soil by composting.

There’s a few different methods out there from traditional composting, worm farming to bokashi, each with their own benefits. 

What to do with your household food waste? (pmcsa.ac.nz)

Composting options - Compost Connection website (compostcollective.org.nz)

Get started with composting

EcoSolutions run a free Compost Connection mentoring programme to give you the knowledge you need to set up and run your own system at home. They will help you chose the best option for your household and provide ongoing support and advice once the system is set up at your home. By taking part in the workshops, you will have the opportunity to purchase a composting bin system to suit your household’s needs, at a heavily discounted price.

Free composting workshops by EcoSolutions (ecosolutions.org.nz)

Want to compost your food scraps but don’t have the space or time at home? ShareWaste is a great way to connect you with other people who are willing to accept your food scraps and organics to use in their own composting set up.

ShareWaste - Compost Collective (sharewaste.org.nz)

Para Kore is a Māori, not-for-profit, zero waste organisation. They are committed to collective action for a zero carbon and zero waste Aotearoa New Zealand. This can be a good starting point for your zero waste journey.

Para Kore (arakore.maori.nz)

The CarbonCycle Composting Guide (carboncyclecompost.com)