A new initiative will help ensure residents’ recycling is clean and compliant when it is processed.

Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) is starting a kerbside recycling bin check trial this month to help reduce contamination.  

Bin checkers will be out on the streets, lifting the lid on yellow kerbside recycling bins and looking at items in the bins, which will then be stickered as either ‘superstar recycler’, ‘almost awesome’, or ‘contaminated recycling’. 

QLDC waste minimisation officer Kath Buttar said the purpose of the bin checks is to help improve the standard of recycling in the district.  

Kath said it was important to have high quality recycling in order to meet standards by recycling processors who enable recycled material to be turned into new products.

“Most people are doing a really good job at recycling and we know it’s something many people in our community care about, but unfortunately we are still seeing some contamination coming through our sorting facility,” Kath said. 

“It’s really important that we have a high quality of recycling so that we meet the strict standards set by our recycling reprocessors and enable collected materials to be turned into new products.”

Where bin checkers find contamination, they will leave an information pack attached to the bin which will provide the household with information on how to recycle with care.  

If a bin is heavily contaminated with rubbish, it will not be emptied because it will contaminate the recycling in the truck. 

In that case, the bin will be stickered and left at the kerbside. 

It will be up to the resident to remove all the contamination before they put their bin back out again on their next collection day. 

“Putting the wrong items in recycling bins not only makes it harder to meet recycling quality standards, but it also impacts the recycling crew at the Queenstown Wakatipu Recycling Centre who hand-sort all kerbside recycling,” Kath said. 

“We want to stop rubbish or dirty recycling going in the recycling bin to make their job easier and more pleasant.” 

This will be QLDC’s first time implementing a bin check.

Kath said the checks will start this month and take place across the district. 

Bin checkers will be out in the early morning before the rubbish and recycling trucks do their rounds. 

Need a refresher on sorting your rubbish and recycling? Find everything you need at the QLDC website here or call the recycling hotline on 03 443 0024.

PHOTOS: Supplied