Some items cannot be placed into your yellow lid bin for recycling.

Download the Canterbury Reuse and Recycling Takeback Scheme guide [PDF, 4437 KB] to find out how to recycle items that can't be recycled through the kerbside bin system.

Hazardous Items

Batteries

Batteries can cause fires if they’re damaged or crushed in kerbside bins. This includes loose batteries, power tool batteries, vape batteries, and anything containing a battery.

Where to take them: Council have a number of battery recycling stations around Selwyn. Some Bunnings and Mitre10 stores will take batteries for recycling (check if your local store accepts batteries).

Gas Bottles and Canisters

Even when empty, gas bottles can explode if compacted in collection trucks. They must be dropped off for safe handling.

Where to take them: The Pines Resource Recovery Park accepts gas bottles for recycling, free of charge for household volumes.

E-Waste

E‑waste contains metals and components that can cause fires or leach harmful materials into the environment.

Where to take them: The Pines Resource Recovery Park accepts e-waste for recycling, free of charge for household volumes (charges apply for TVs and monitors). The TechCollect NZ scheme has a number of drop-off locations. Or you could donate unwanted devices to Recycle a Device.

Lightbulbs

This includes LEDs, incandescent, halogen, fluorescent tubes. Lightbulbs are made from materials that can’t be sorted or processed through the kerbside system. Some also need special handling to keep people and the environment safe.

Where to take them: Some Mitre10 stores will take a range of lightbulbs for recycling. Fluorescent tubes can be taken to the Pines Resource Recovery Park free of charge for household volumes.

Plastics, Packaging and Containers

Soft Plastic Packaging

This includes bread bags, chip packets, frozen food packets, courier bags, bubble wrap, and other “scrunchable” plastics. These materials get tangled and jam kerbside sorting machinery.
Where to take them: The Packaging Forum's Soft Plastics Recycling Scheme have a number of drop-off locations at various supermarkets. If there is nothing available in your area, please put soft plastics in your kerbside rubbish bin.

Liquid Paperboard Cartons (e.g. Tetra Pak®)

Drink cartons are made of layers of cardboard, aluminium, and plastic. Because these layers must be separated, they can’t go in kerbside recycling.
Where to take them: SaveboardNZ have several drop-off locations for drink cartons. If there is nothing available in your area, please put these in your kerbside rubbish bin.

Lids 

This includes any type of lid from small plastic caps off milk bottles, to large flat lids from ice cream containers, to metal lids from glass jars. Small items like lids fall through sorting machinery and contaminate other materials. They also fall off bails and become windblown litter, ending up in waterways.
Where to take them: Some New World supermarkets participate in the Caps & Lids Recycling Scheme. If there is nothing available in your area please put all lids and caps in your kerbside rubbish bin.

Plastic Plant Pots

Plant pots can’t be recycled kerbside because they’re not food‑grade plastics.
Where to take them: Many Bunnings and all Mitre10 stores accept plant pots for recycling.

Polystyrene

Polystyrene packaging needs special processing and breaks into pieces too easily for kerbside machinery. 
Where to take them: Clean, white polystyrene (no polystyrene chips) can be recycled at the Pines Resource Recovery Park, free of charge for household volumes. Some Mitre10 stores also accept polystyrene for recycling.

Household Items

Glass Kitchenware, Crockery and Home Décor

This includes items like drinking glasses, Pyrex, vases, and decorative glass. These melt at different temperatures than bottle glass, so they contaminate recycled glass in kerbside bins.
Where to take them: Donate good quality glassware to our ReUse Shop or your local second-hand shop, but if they are chipped or broken, please wrap them securely and dispose of in your rubbish bin.

Cosmetics Containers

Makeup and skincare packaging (mascara tubes, compacts, lipsticks, pumps, wands) often contain mixed materials that kerbside systems can’t separate. 
Where to take them: Various TerraCycle drop-off points accept a wide range of items for recycling.

Scrap Metal

This includes tools, pots and pans, small home appliances, metal fixtures, and car parts. Most household metal items can’t go in kerbside recycling because the machinery is designed only for cans and tins.
Where to take them: Donate good quality items to our ReUse Shop or your local second-hand shop. Scrap metal can also be taken to the Pines Resource Recovery Park free of charge.

Textiles

This includes clothes, shoes, sheets, towels, fabric shopping bags, soft toys, and curtains. Textiles can’t go in kerbside recycling because the equipment can’t separate or process fabric.
Where to take them: Donate good quality fabric and textile items to our ReUse Shop or your local second-hand shop. Towels and sheets or bedding can sometimes be donated to the SPCA, Dog Watch, or veterinary clinics depending on demand.

Sporting Equipment

Sporting gear is made from mixed materials that kerbside recycling systems can’t sort or recycle.
Where to take them: Donate good quality sporting equipment to our ReUse Shop or your local second-hand shop, or to the Gear Up Ōtautahi scheme for distribution to community groups and schools.