Weekly recycling and rubbish kerbside collection services are provided for households and businesses in urban areas across the Taupō District. To see what day kerbside collections run in your area go to our collection day map and enter your address into the search field.
Green bins and black bins for recycling are available from council offices.
Each household is entitled to one green recycling bin and one black recycling bin. There is no charge to replace a lost or stolen recycling bin. Additional bins and bins for businesses can be purchased for $10 each.
Please label your bins with your street address. If you move, please leave your bins at your old address. There should be bins at your new address.
Did you know that our EnviroWaste recycling contractors are sorting your recycling at the kerbside before it gets loaded onto the truck?
It’s not an easy job, especially when our recycling volumes increase during peak times of the year.
Our recycling contractors struggle to deal with overfilled bins, bins contaminated with rubbish, boxes that are not broken down, and items mixed in one recycling bin. All these lead to delays to your recycling collection.
Let’s recycle better. Let's sort it out.
You can help by separating your recycling into three product streams, using three different bins:
YES please - plastic, tin and aluminium you CAN recycle:
✔️ Kitchen, bathroom and laundry plastics with the number 1, 2 and 5
✔️ Aluminum drink cans
✔️ Tinfoil, foil trays and foil pans
✔️Tin food cans and pet food cans
NO thank you - plastic, tin and aluminium you CANNOT recycle:
❌ Any plastics with the number 3, 4, 6 and 7
❌ Outdoor number 5 plastics such as plant pots
❌ Children's plastic toys and bath toys
❌ Soft plastics such as plastic bags/wrappers, frozen food bags, grocery bags, chip packets, bread bags, glad wrap and bubble wrap
❌ Bottle caps and lids
❌ Aerosol cans such as
deodorant, air freshener, sunscreen and hairspray
TIPS for recycling your plastic, tin and aluminium:
♻️ Look for the recycle number or symbol on the bottom or side of plastic containers
♻️ Rinse out and clean your recyclables
♻️ Put bottle caps and lids into your rubbish bag
♻️ Remove any shrink or plastic wrap from recyclable items
♻️ Push tin lids down inside the tin for safety, no sharp edges
♻️ Don't overfill your green bin - recycled items should not be stacked above the top of the bin, especially on windy days!
YES please - paper and cardboard you CAN recycle:
✔️ Flattened cardboard boxes with tape removed
✔️ Magazines, newspapers, brochures, catalogues, leaflets, pamphlets
✔️ Empty pizza boxes - remove any pizza scraps
✔️ Cardboard such as toothpaste boxes, soap boxes, tissue boxes and toilet roll tubes
✔️ Envelopes and domestic junk mail
✔️ Telephone directories
✔️ Shredded paper and any other clean paper or cardboard
NO thank you - paper and cardboard you CANNOT recycle:
❌ Tetra Pak cartons
❌ Takeaway coffee cups and fast food drink cups
❌ Used napkins, tissues and paper towels
❌ Dirty paper plates
❌ Mixed paper (or cardboard) products such as waxed paper, carbon paper, milk or juice cartons.
TIPS for recycling your paper and cardboard:
♻️ Put your paper and cardboard together
in a green recycling bin
♻️ Or use a cardboard box if you are short
on bins
♻️ Flatten cardboard cartons and boxes, up to the size of a banana box
♻️ Oversized/excessive cardboard should be
recycled at a transfer station as it takes up too much room in the truck.
YES please - glass you CAN recycle:
✔️ Whole glass jars and bottles
NO thank you - glass you CANNOT recycle:
❌ Broken glass (please wrap in newspaper and put into your rubbish)
❌ Window glass
❌ Drinking glasses
❌ Glass cookware or ceramics
❌ Vases
❌Light bulbs
TIPS for recycling your glass:
♻️ Empty and rinse clean your glass jars and bottles
♻️ Remove bottle lids and caps and place them in the rubbish
♻️ Broken glass must be wrapped in newspaper/cardboard and placed in your rubbish
♻️ Do not put glass out in cardboard boxes as they can collapse
Key things to remember on your collection day
Recycling guidelines quick reference sheet
Download or print our quick reference sheet to see at a glance what items you can and cannot recycle.
Recycling guidelines quick reference sheet printable (PDF, 3.8KB)
How recycling is done in the Taupō District
Check out this video to learn more about what happens to your recycling after it's collected.