Some plastic items no longer allowed in yellow wheelie bins

Some plastic items that would have been recycled will now have to be put in the red kerbside collection bin and sent to landfill.

This is due to a change in the global recycling market, which means Christchurch City Council has had to alter what plastics it can accept for recycling.

Christchurch and Banks Peninsula residents will now need to make sure they only put plastic items marked with numbers 1, 2 or 5 into their yellow bins.

Plastic items that have a 3, 4, 6 or 7 printed on them now need to go in the red bin.

All other plastic, including lids, should also be disposed of in the red bin.

City council resource recovery manager Ross Trotter said the 1, 2 or 5 plastics - like soft-drink bottles, milk bottles, ice-cream containers, family-sized yoghurt tubs, and meat trays - can still be recycled.

Clean cardboard, paper, aluminium cans, clear and coloured glass bottles and jars, and metal tins are the only non-plastic items that should go in the yellow wheelie bin.

“Just make sure you wash them before placing them in your yellow bin.

"Please don’t make the mistake of squashing them or bagging them up - they need to be loose.

"Lids should also be removed and placed in the red bin.

“Because of the machinery used at the EcoSort Recycling Facility, the plastic bottles and containers put in the yellow bin needs to be bigger than the size of an individual yoghurt pottle but smaller than three litres.’’