Whakatāne District Council is changing its public place recycling bins to help reduce contamination and ensure more of the material collected can be recycled.

From this week, people will start to see the yellow mixed-recycling bins replaced with black bins for aluminium cans only at the council’s public place recycling stations around the district.

The change follows ongoing issues with contamination in the yellow mixed-recycling bins, from incorrect items and rubbish, and with food scraps left on cardboard and plastic containers that otherwise were recyclable. When contaminated items are mixed with other recycling, much of what is collected can end up going to landfill instead of being recycled.

Manager waste and resource recovery Lisa Eve said moving to a dedicated aluminium can collection would help address the problem.

“It might sound a little surprising, but by accepting fewer types of recycling in these bins, we expect more of what we collect will be recycled.

“Other councils have successfully moved to cans-only recycling in public places and it has significantly reduced contamination. We’re taking the same approach here, focusing on aluminium cans because they’re one of the most common recyclable items people dispose of while they’re out and about.”

Lower contamination should also reduce the amount of material sent to landfill and help reduce associated disposal costs.

Plastic containers, paper and cardboard will no longer be accepted in the public place recycling bins. People should take recyclable #1, #2 and #5 plastic containers and clean paper and cardboard items home and place them in their yellow-lid recycling bin.

The blue recycling bins will continue to accept glass bottles and jars (no lids) while the new black bins will accept aluminium cans.