Mixed recycling will continue to be dumped in landfills in Otago and Southland when the nation moves to Covid-19 Alert Level 3.
Recycling services have been greatly affected by the restrictions imposed during Alert Level 4, more so than rubbish collection.
The latter continues to be collected by council contractors and private companies throughout both provinces, but councils are advising residents that as many recycling facilities remained closed, mixed recycling, with the exception of glass, should go in the general waste bin.
In North Otago, where there is no council-funded kerbside rubbish or recycling collection, between 300 and 400 people visit the Waitaki Resource Recovery Park each day, most of them to drop off recycling.
However, that closed when the lockdown started and would remain so throughout Level 3 because of health and safety concerns, operations manager Trish Hurley said.
"With our park being open it’s quite hard to be able to do distancing when we get as many people through a day as we do. We will reassess it as we have more information."
Queenstown Lakes District Council maintenance and operations contracts manager Laura Gledhill said the Frankton Recycling Centre would remain closed, including the community drop-off area. Community green-waste sites would also remain closed and upcoming inorganic collections for remote communities might be rescheduled
"This will result in mixed recycling continuing to go to landfill, although glass will still go to O-I in Auckland as long as it is contamination-free," she said.
Limited access to transfer stations, managed through an online booking system, would be made available to people who were "struggling with excess waste".
"The transfer stations will only be accepting waste into the pit for disposal at landfill. Areas for diversion of items such as green waste, scrap metal and hazardous goods will not be accessible during Alert Level 3."
Central Otago District Council environmental engineering manager Quinton Penniall said the council also had a contract with the Franklin facility so was in the same situation.
Its other provider faced similar issues, he said.
"Wastebusters, who collect and process recycling from drop-off points throughout the district, will also not be operating. This is due to the highly manual nature of collection and processing."
Wastenet is contracted by the Southland and Gore District Councils and the Invercargill City Council.
Wastenet senior waste officer Donna Peteron said it was "still working" with the councils to determine if any changes would be made to recycling collections.
