High rates of recycle bin contamination has seen tonnes of recycling redirected to landfill and prompted WasteNet Southland to restart its yellow bin inspections from 10th February.

WasteNet Southland Director Fiona Walker said in the 2023/2024 period alone, 944 tonnes of material was directed from yellow bins to landfill – with an equivalent dollar cost to ratepayers of $339,000.

“When a bin is contaminated, there is the risk that the truck’s entire contents is no longer able to be directed to recycling and instead end up in landfill."

Walker said that was a significant financial and environmental cost.

Contamination ranged from what was commonly known as “wish-cycling” – small amounts of unaccepted items people may think could be included, to gross contamination from households using their recycling bins for rubbish, Walker said.

Recycling is currently hand-sorted in Southland, so contamination also had significant health and safety implications, particularly when sorters were handling contamination such as medical waste, she said.

Chairman of the WasteNet Joint Committee, Gore District deputy mayor Keith Hovell, said after each inspection, inspectors would leave a bin tag with helpful feedback to assist the public in improving their recycling habits.

“By reintroducing bin inspections, our hope is that we can not only direct rubbish and recycling to the appropriate place, but also educate our community on how their own small actions can have a real impact,” he said.

“This is about giving our community the knowledge and tools to ensure we can change our behaviour, minimise waste destined for landfill, and together recycle as much as we are able.”

A green tag would indicate households were recycling well, while an orange tag would indicate there were a few incorrect items found in a bin, and a red tag would indicate significant contamination, Hovell said.

Those who received a red tag would not have their bin collected and would need to remove the contamination prior to their next scheduled collection run, he said.

Alongside bin inspections, WasteNet would be delivering community education and information to support people with recycling correctly.

Bin inspections will start through the Invercargill City and Southland District boundaries from 10th February, and follows similar moves in areas such as Dunedin, Auckland, and Christchurch.

CLICK HERE to find out more.