Recycling Info and FAQs
What can go in my yellow recycling bin?
How do I make sure I recycle right?
Why can’t I put lids in recycling?
"Lids" covers a wide variety of items.
- Sometimes the lid is made of the same plastic as the main container and sometimes not.
- Sometimes the lid is the same colour as the main container and sometimes not.
- Sometimes the lid is quite a big part of the container and sometimes not.
- Sometimes the container has been well cleaned out and the lid replaced, and sometimes not.
Because of these variabilities, to increase the quality of our recycling and to simplify the process of recycling the messaging is no lids – of any kinds.
Often lids are left on a dirty container causing contamination of all other recycling when the lid inevitably falls off during processing - not to mention making it a bad workday for our hard-working recycling sorters. When the plastic items are baled up for reprocessing the smaller lids will often fall out and end up in landfill or causing littering issues.
Other lids are pumps or triggers and possibly contain a mixture of plastic types and metals making them hard to recycle.
Please remove all lids from plastic items 1, 2 and 5 and place in your red rubbish bin – or find some creative reuse for them.
How can I make the most of my recycling?
Check the plastic types in your cupboards and in your supermarket trolley and start making switches to easy-to-recycle products to help reduce waste to landfill.
Look for similar products that are packaged in other recyclable materials like, cans, glass or cardboard.
If you cannot avoid non-recyclable plastics, perhaps reduce how frequently you purchase the item.
What happens to my recycling?
What other opportunities are available for recycling in the district?
Council and businesses in the district offer a number of locations for your recyclables:
Waste Type | Location | More information |
Agricultural Chemical containers | Alexandra Transfer Station, Farmlands Cromwell, PGG Wrightson Ranfurly, Roxburgh Transfer Station | Containers must be empty and TRIPLE-RINSED. See AgRecovery website for more
details: Agrecovery | Container Recycling
NO COST. |
Agricultural LDPE & PP Woven 10-25kg bags | Farmlands & Fruitfed Supplies Alexandra Farmlands & Fruitfed Supplies Cromwell, PGG Wrightson Ranfurly | Bags must be empty and shaken out and packed into a free liner. See
AgRecovery website for more details:
AgRecovery - Small Bag Programme NO COST. |
Batteries | All CODC transfer stations | All household batteries accepted including rechargable
power tool and toy batteries and button batteries. Batteries must be undamaged,
not leaking or corroded to be accepted.
NO COST. |
Bottle tops (wine and beer) | Cromwell Pharmacy | Collected by Cromwell Lions for Kidney Kids. NO COST. |
Cartridges (ink & toner) | PaperPlus - Alexandra and Cromwell | Brands: HP, Brother, Epsom & Canon accepted. No
non-OEM (original equipment manufacturer) accepted.
NO COST. |
Cell phones (Old) | Alexandra Library Cromwell Library Ranfurly Service Centre Roxburgh Service Centre | Re: Mobile raised money for ocean conservation. Please
leave battery on phone but remove SIM card if you wish.
NO COST. |
Child Car Seats | Alexandra Transfer Station, Cromwell Transfer Station | SeatSmart recycling scheme subsidised by CODC. $10 COST |
Coffee machine pods | Nichols Garden Centre, Cromwell | Brand: Nescafe only. NO COST. |
Lightbulb recycling | Mitre 10 – Alexandra and Cromwell | All typical, traditional household bulbs – fluorescent
& LED. No bulbs with broken glass accepted.
NO COST. |
Pet Food Packaging | VetEnt - Ranfurly and Cromwell | All brands of Royal Canin & Eukanuba cat and dog dry food bags and
wet food pouches.
NO COST. |
Plant pot recycling (Marked no.5 plastic – PP) | Mitre 10 – Alexandra and Cromwell | Check for no.5. Clean pots, no dirt! NO COST. |
Polystyrene packaging (expanded polystyrene) | Mitre 10 – Cromwell | Domestic quantities only 2 rubbish bags at a time max.
NO COST. |
Spectacles (prescription glasses) | Cromwell Pharmacy, Alexandra Community House | These glasses are collected by Cromwell Lions Club and sent to help
those with poor or low vision in the Pacific Islands.
NO COST. |
What is Council doing to find a long-term solution?
Change requires a collaborative approach involving councils, producers, manufacturers and the community, with central government as the key enabler.
In 2020, we supported the Local Government Waste Manifesto as a remit at the Local Government New Zealand conference. Since then, central government has put out several key pieces of work, including a draft Waste Strategy, a work strategy for the motu to 2050, and a proposal to introduce a Container Return Scheme (bottle deposits) and to Standardise Kerbside Collection services. CODC has made submissions to support these proposals whilst highlighting the unique challenges for recycling and waste minimisation faced by rural populations without ready access to waste and recycling infrastructure.
Central government has a programme to phase out the use of hard-to-recycle and single-use plastics within Aotearoa New Zealand. The first of these bans came into effect in October 2022. The following items will not be allowed to be imported into or sold within the country:
- PVC food trays and containers for produce, baked goods and meat
- Polystyrene and expanded polystyrene takeaway food and drink packaging
- Plastic with chemical additives designed to physically breakdown, e.g. ox-degradable and photo-degradable plastics
- Plastic drink stirrers
- Plastic stemmed cotton buds
CODC is also working with our neighbouring districts and at a regional level to ensure we work to support the vision of our Waste Management and Minimisation Plan - Towards Zero Waste and a Sustainable Central Otago.