Rubbish & recycling  |  24 Apr 2024

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Two months after government standardised kerbside recycling, not being able to wrap food scraps has been one of the biggest challenges for Ōtautahi residents, along with confusion over where to put pizza boxes.

Government changes came into effect on 1 February this year, making what materials can be collected from households for recycling and organics the same nationwide.

For Christchurch residents, the move to putting clean pizza boxes into the yellow recycling bin is taking a bit of adjustment, as is all paper and food-soiled cardboard going in the red bin.

“Feedback is showing these are the two things our residents are finding the most confusing, says Alec McNeil, Christchurch City Council Resource Recovery Manager.

Kerbside changes

Pizza boxes go into the yellow bin unless they have food scraps and then they should go in the red bin. 

Tea bags, paper towels, serviettes, shredded paper, and aerosol cans now go into the red bin.

The only items able to be recycled in the yellow bin are 4l and under plastic bottles, containers and clear meat trays numbered 1, 2 and 5, food and drink tins and cans, paper and cardboard, and glass bottles and jars. Items need to be clean, not bagged, not squashed and lids in the red bin.

View information on the changes to kerbside recycling

People who previously used paper or cardboard to wrap food scraps or line their green organics bin are advised to line the bottom of the organics bin with weeds or leaves before emptying in food waste.

This can help to reduce issues around smell or food waste getting stuck at the bottom of the bin. Emptying the food caddy into the organics bin the evening before collection can also help.

Pizza boxes go in the yellow recycling bin, but only if they’re empty. Oil on the cardboard is okay, but if there’s cheese or sauce stuck to the pizza box it should go in the red bin.

“It’s just a matter of checking beforehand and if there’s left-over pizza inside then it goes in the red bin because otherwise you’re contaminating the recycling," says Mr McNeil.

“It takes time to adjust habits, but we’ve seen from the way our residents embraced the ‘clean recycling’ and ‘lids off’ campaign that Christchurch people want to ‘bin good’ with recycling.

“We estimate that 70-80 percent of bottle, jar and container lids are now removed, compared to 10-20 percent four years ago. That’s a huge success story and shows that people will embrace change."