Recycling right: What you need to know

Nelsonians are pretty good at recycling. Every year, Council audits Nelson’s kerbside recycling bins. Apart from the odd orange tag (indicating the wrong thing might have made it into the bin), our community usually gets it right.

So what can we do to recycle even better? 

Coffee cups
While they appear to be cardboard, coffee cups are lined with plastic to make them watertight. Recycling machines are unable to separate the plastic lining from the cardboard, meaning they cannot be recycled. 

Compostable and biodegradable food packaging
Compostable and biodegradable food packaging requires a commercial composting system that uses high heat to accelerate the breakdown process, and some products contain additives that can make them less suitable for composting. There are very few commercial composting facilities in New Zealand and Nelson currently does not have a suitable composting option available.

Aluminum trays and foil
We now have nationwide standards for what can be accepted in recycling collections. Aluminum foil, and products made of foil, are excluded from council collections nationwide – both because these items are sometimes contaminated with food leftovers, and because not all councils have the right facilities to process them. 

Batteries
Batteries, such as those made using lithium, can and have, caused fires in collection trucks, recycling centres and landfills. Batteries should not go in your kerbside recycling or rubbish bin. Instead, you can drop batteries off for free at one of many collection points including the Nelson City Council Customer Service (small quantities only), Nelson Environment Centre and the Nelson Waste Recovery Centre. 

Lids
Because of national recycling standards, lids are excluded from Council collections. This is because lids are usually too small to be picked up by most sorting machines and can jam equipment or contaminate recycling. This covers all lids, including things like ice cream lids, milk bottle tops and even metal jar lids. While national recycling standards mean Council is unable to collect lids, there are community-led options such as Grassroots Recycling, which will accept lids. Find them on Facebook for details.

For more information on what can and can't go in your yellow bin, visit nelson.govt.nz/kerbside-recycling-service