YELLOW BIN RECYCLING
Confused about what’s recyclable? Here’s what does and doesn’t go in your yellow bin:
Recycling
- Plastic bottles, trays and containers numbered 1, 2 and 5 only (no smaller than 100ml or bigger than 4 litres)
- Food and drink tins and cans
- Paper and cardboard
- Glass bottles and jars
Rubbish
- Compostable packaging and containers
- Nappies and sanitary products
- Lids for bottles, jars and containers
- Fabric and clothing
- Soft plastics
- Polystyrene
- E-waste
- Coffee cups and lids
- Aerosols
CHRISTCHURCH BINS APP
Download the Christchurch City Council Bins app
Look up items to see what bin they belong in
Reminders to set your bins out on the correct days
Learn helpful tips on reducing waste
RECYCLE RIGHT
Most Kiwis can now recycle the same things from home
Here’s how you can recycle right:
Take off the lids of your dirty bottles and jars, plastic bottles and containers, and tins and cans, and put them in the rubbish
Remove any food scraps, flatten your pizza boxes, and put them out for recycling
Rinse out your dirty bottles and jars, plastic bottles and containers, and tins and cans
Make sure everything is loose, not bagged or tied together
If you have any reusable items, drop them off at your nearest EcoDrop
Watch these videos for more recycling tips
RECYCLED PRODUCTS
Once your recycling has been sorted and baled, it is sent off to different processing plants. Here’s what happens once the products leave our EcoSort facility:
Paper
Mixed paper recycling includes magazines, junk mail and office paper. Currently there is no onshore demand for our recycled paper bales so we export them to countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam where they are recycled into new paper products.
HDPE 
HDPE bales consist of opaque bottles with no added pigment. HDPE Natural is a valuable commodity as it can be made into a wide variety of products. In Canterbury HDPE plastics are processed into drainage pipes.
Steel
Steel can bales are sold locally and are one of the world’s most recyclable products. They can be remanufactured into a variety of steel products, such as bicycles and of course, new steel cans.
Corrugated cardboard
Corrugated cardboard bales are also sent offshore where they are recycled into various products, including cardboard boxes and trays.
PP
Our PP plastics include items like plastic containers and reusable water bottles. They can be recycled in New Zealand and are used in concrete reinforcing pedestals, spacer wedges and more.
Glass
The glass we receive through the kerbside collection is currently used as a roading base, so this is technically considered downcycling. If glass is separated by colour, it can be recycled back into glass bottles.
PET
PET is widely used in food and beverage packaging, such as meat trays and single-use water bottles. PET bales produced at our EcoSort facility are sold to processors who re-manufacture this into water bottles.
Aluminium
Aluminium bales, consisting of various food and beverage cans, are sold offshore and remanufactured into new aluminium cans. By doing this instead of onshore recycling, the energy used in production is cut down by 60%.