WasteNet Southland director Fiona Walker said, in a statement, about 11,000 recycling bins throughout Invercargill and the wider Southland district had been inspected since the programme began in February.
"We are really pleased with the results that have come back so far, with more than 90% of households now recycling correctly."
Following an inspection, recycling bins were tagged to reflect their contents.
A green tag indicated households were recycling well, while an orange tag indicated there were a few incorrect items found in a bin. A red tag indicated significant contamination.
Those who received a red tag did not have their recycling collected and needed to remove the contamination from their recycling bin prior to their next scheduled collection run.
"In comparison to contamination rates before inspections were introduced, that’s huge.
"Our community has put a tremendous effort into changing their recycling behaviours, and being more conscious of what they are putting in their yellow bins," she said.
The next phase of the inspection process was implementing the three-strikes system: where households that received three red tags in a calendar year would have their recycling bin removed, and the service suspended until the resident returned a signed reinstatement agreement form to reactivate the service, Ms Walker said.
This system came into effect on March 31.
The introduction of recycling bin inspections was in response to high contamination rates, which came at a significant cost — both financially and environmentally. It followed similar moves in areas including Dunedin, Auckland and Christchurch, she said.
In the 2023-24 period alone, 944 tonnes of material in contaminated recycling bins had to be redirected to landfill, at a cost of $339,000 to ratepayers, she said.
WasteNet joint committee chairman Gore district deputy mayor Keith Hovell said alongside bin inspections, WasteNet had delivered educational information to support people to recycle correctly and dispose of waste appropriately.
"This initiative isn’t about punishing people. It’s about empowering them and giving them the tools to identify ways in which they can minimise waste destined for landfill," he said.
"Early numbers indicate this initiative has been very successful at raising awareness of what can and can’t be recycled, which is great news."
The application of the three-strikes system followed an educational campaign, where communications were delivered to households to ensure people had been proactively informed about it, Mr Hovell said.
The bin inspection programme did not come at an additional cost to ratepayers, as it was funded directly by WasteNet rather than being a rates-funded activity, he said.
Bin inspections
Invercargill and Southland
Green tags issued 9750 (91%)
Orange tags issued 684 (6%)
Red tags issued 329 (3%)
10,763 bins inspected
