Kerbside refuse and recycling collection

Kerbside collections over the festive season

Christmas week

This year Christmas falls on a Wednesday, which means there will be changes to kerbside collections during that week, as shown in the table below.

New Year's week

Normal kerbside collections will resume from Monday, December 30 so there are no changes to kerbside collections over the New Year period.

Find your collection day

Weekly rubbish and recycling kerbside collection services are provided for households and businesses across the Taupo District.

To see what day kerbside collections run in your area enter your address into the search field on this map:

Key things to remember on your collection day

• Place your rubbish bags and recycling bins kerbside by 7.30am on your usual collection day
• A orange sticker must be adhered to every rubbish bag (60 litres maximum)
• There is no limit to the number of rubbish bags you can put out for collection, as long as the bags used are not bigger than 60 litres and each bag has an orange sticker applied
• Leave bags and bins as close as you can to the kerbside and clear of the footpath
• Wrap any broken glass or sharp objects thoroughly before putting them in your refuse bag
• On windy days, put bigger and heavier items on top of lighter items inside your green bin to stop things blowing away
• Don't overfill your green bin - recycled items should not be stacked above the top of the bin
• Two smaller plastic bags or bag liners (30 litres maximum combined) tied together will be accepted with half an orange sticker
• If refuse bags or recyclable items are placed out for removal and do not, for any reason, comply with what is allowed, the contractor shall apply a sticker stating why they do not comply.

Rubbish bags and orange stickers

You can put any rubbish bag out for kerbside collection as long as it's no more than 60 litres. One pre-paid orange sticker must be applied to each bag. You can purchase stickers from council offices and other outlets in the Taupo District. Stickers are $1.50 each.

Where to buy refuse stickers (PDF, 36KB)

What you can put in your rubbish bags

Everyday rubbish and waste can go into your rubbish bags for kerbside collection, including polystyrene containers, wet wipes, nappies and sanitary products, sweepings, dust, bones, cold ashes, cartons, packaging, plastics with recycling symbols 3 to 7 and other non-recyclable items.

What you can't put in your rubbish bags

• Hot ashes, garden waste, hedge clippings and hazardous waste
• Recyclables such as glass bottles and jars, paper and cardboard, cans and plastics with recycling symbols 1 or 2. These items should be placed in your green recycle bin - see below for more information.

Kerbside recycling

Help us look after the place we love by recycling! We actively support reducing the amount of rubbish that is sent to landfill by providing a kerbside recycling collection that takes place on the same day of the week as your rubbish collection.

Green recycling bins

Green bins for recycling are available from council offices. Each household is entitled to one recycling bin. There is no charge to replace a lost or stolen green bin. Additional green bins and green bins for businesses can be purchased for $10 each.

Please label your bin with your street address. If you move, please leave your green bin at your old address. There should be a bin at your new address.

Our recyclers sort items at the kerbside to help educate everybody on what can and cannot be recycled in the Taupo District. If items are left in your recycling bin this means they cannot be recycled or they are contaminated with food.

What you can recycle in your green bin

• Plastics with a category 1 or 2 inside the recycle arrows - look for the recycle symbol on the bottom or side of plastic containers.
• Newspaper, cardboard, pizza boxes, magazines, junk mail, envelopes and any other clean paper or cardboard
• Clean tin cans such as food and pet food cans
• Aluminium drink cans
• Whole glass jars and bottles (no sharp edges please).

Rinse out your recyclables and put caps and lids into your rubbish bag. An empty cardboard box can be used to hold extra recyclables. For the safety of your collector, please put glass recycling in the green bin only, as cardboard boxes can collapse.

What you can't recycle in your green bin

• Plastics with categories 3-7 inside the recycling arrows - look for the recycle symbol on the bottom or side of plastic containers
• Mixed paper (or cardboard) products such as waxed paper, carbon paper, milk or juice cartons. These are paper mixed with plastics, wax or foil and are not recyclable
• Plastic bags, polystyrene packaging or meat trays are not recyclable
• Paint tins are not recyclable in your green bin. However, well washed paint tins can be recycled at Broadlands Road Landfill and some of the district transfer stations.
• Aerosols are not recyclable
• Broken glass and windows cannot be put in your green bin (please wrap in newspaper and put into your rubbish)
• Crystal and ceramics are not recyclable.

Be careful with your rubbish and recycling

Ever wondered if something is safe to recycle or put in the rubbish? If you're asking the question - you've probably got your answer! If you have to be careful with something you're disposing of, the contractors picking it up could probably be injured by it.

Anything dangerous, sharp or pointy should be wrapped in newspaper or preferably cardboard before being put out for collection. This includes:

• Broken glass
• Needles
• Skewers
• Broken plates
• Gardening equipment
• Kitchen knives

Please wrap it before you throw it away, and keep our contractors - and yourselves - safe!