Domestic kerbside collections in Aotearoa New Zealand vary significantly across the country. Adjacent local authorities often collect different materials in kerbside recycling collections, use different types of collection bins, and provide different types of residual rubbish collections, using different funding mechanisms (rates funded, user pays). Some local authorities provide organic waste collections, others don’t. These inconsistencies lead to confusion among the public, incentivise waste to landfill, and can increase contamination in recycling.

This report was commission by the Ministry for the Environment (MfE) to provide recommendations to the Minister on opportunities to standardise domestic kerbside collections to increase consistency, reduce confusion for householders, improve material quality and reduce residual rubbish to landfill.

Recommendations

1. Standardise materials to be collected in domestic kerbside recycling collections across the country, and how they should be presented, to increase consistency, reduce confusion for householders and reduce contamination.
2. Incentivise local authorities to collect food waste for composting or AD to reduce kerbside residual rubbish to landfill.
3. Incentivise local authorities to collect glass separately to other recyclable materials to improve the quality of all materials accepted in kerbside recycling.
4. Provide best practice recommendations for food waste, recycling, and residual rubbish collections to increase consistency across the country.