From 1 February 2024, new national standards to kerbside bin collections are in place, which means a consistent approach to how we sort recycling, organics and rubbish across Aotearoa New Zealand.

The new national standards have bought about some changes to what is accepted in what bin on UC campus.

Some of the key changes include:

• Pizza boxes now go into recycling (not organics)
• Tea bags now go into landfill (not organics)
• Soiled paper and dirty napkins now go into landfill
• All types of takeaway packaging (whether marked ‘compostable’ or not) must go into landfill. This includes coffee cups.

All staff and students can make a difference by sorting their waste correctly to minimise the contamination of our waste streams.

For example, it is extremely important that all food, food scraps and organic material are placed in the green organics bin, and not in the red landfill bins.

Want to reduce your waste to landfill? Same! Keep an eye out on here and on our social media for some inspiration for how you can get creative, save some money, and have fun while reducing your waste footprint at the same time.

Learn more about waste management and minimisation at UC here.