What can I put in the organics bin?

Food waste including fruit, veges, meat, bones and fish, bread, pastries, flours, coffee grinds and tea bags, dairy products, garden waste including cut flowers, prunings, cuttings and branches less than 7.5cm in diameter, leaves and grass lawn clippings (as long as they haven’t been sprayed with herbicides containing Clopyralid, such as Versatil), human and animal hair, shredded paper, paper smaller than an envelope except till receipts, food-soiled cardboard containers, paper towels and serviettes. The bin lid will have a sticker inside that shows what can and cannot go in the bin, and more information about the service is available here.
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How often will rubbish and organics be collected?

Organics will be collected weekly. Recycling and rubbish bags and bins will be collected fortnightly on alternate weeks. Kerbside collection reminders and information is available on our web tool.

Rubbish gets smelly after a week, why is it only collected fortnightly?

There shouldn’t be too much in your rubbish bin that smells if you put all of your food waste into the organics bin (which is collected each week). If you do have meat trays and plastic wrap with blood in them, you can freeze them until your collection day. Nappies with poo should not be put in the bin – scrape or rinse the poo off into the toilet before you put nappies into the rubbish bin.

Have you changed what you take in recycling?

From 1 July 2019 we could not accept plastic carry bags, flimsy plastic packaging like biscuit trays or clingfilm in recycling bins. We also can't take liquid cartons like Tetra Pak or soy and stock containers, or cardboard cartons that have contained liquid in our kerbside recycling. From May 2020 we can't accept plastic types 3, 4, 6 and 7 as these are low value plastics that are no longer accepted for recycling.

I live in Ohoka/Mandeville/Swannanoa and I have a recycling bin. Will I be able to use rubbish bags? Will I be able to get a rubbish bin, or an organics bin?

You have the option to get a rubbish bin collection service, but not a bag collection. At this stage we’re not planning to provide an organics collection to the properties in your area because we don’t expect there to be much demand for it given the rural nature of this area.

I live in Ohoka/Mandeville/Swannanoa and I (or the previous property owner) opted out of the recycling collection. Will I be able to opt in and get a recycling bin and rubbish bin? Will I be able to just get a rubbish bin?

If your property is inside the collection area boundaries, you can opt into the Council’s collection service for both kerbside (recycling) collection and rubbish bin collection. You can’t just opt into the rubbish service, you will have to pay rates for both recycling and rubbish collections, as the base kerbside recycling collection rate includes the costs Council incurs around managing the contracts, administration, etc.

Why can’t I get a 240L rubbish bin?

Our bag and bin audits showed us that 60% of rubbish can go into the mixed organics bin, and another 9% could go into the recycling bin – that doesn’t leave a lot of rubbish. We’re trying to encourage waste minimisation and that’s why we’re offering three different sized bins for mixed organics and only the small and medium sized bins for rubbish.

How much am I allowed to put in my bin?

The maximum weight for any bin is 70 kg. The bin most likely to be too heavy is your green bin. Soil is heavy, knock it off before you put weeds in your bin. Distribute weight by placing heavier items at the top of the bin.