What you can and cannot put in kerbside recycling from February
Aucklanders are being urged to brush up on their recycling etiquette as new national standards come into effect at the beginning of next month.
Identical guidelines for what can and cannot be put into kerbside recycling bins across the country are due to come into force on February 1. Previously, local councils had different criteria for what recycling was accepted.
Items that will be accepted in kerbside recycling bins from February 1 include:
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Glass bottles and jars
Paper and cardboard
Plastic bottles, trays, and containers (grades 1, 2 and 5 only)
Tin, steel and aluminium cans
There are also some new items that will be excluded from February 1:
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Items less than 50mm (e.g caps, small cosmetic and spice containers)
Aerosol cans (steel and aluminium)
Liquid paperboard (Tetrapak and juice boxes)
Plastics 3, 4, 6 and 7
Aluminium foil and trays
All lids
Items over 4 litres
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Councillor Richard Hills encouraged Aucklanders to familiarise themselves with these new guidelines.
“By only putting in the right recyclable items into our bins, we are helping increase the quality of materials collected for recycling, which in turn reduces disposal costs.”
Hills, who is the chair of the Planning, Environment and Parks committee, said that this change is another important step along the path to Auckland Council's goal of zero waste by 2040.
“Reducing the use of single use items is the best way to reduce waste, following that, it is recycling right.”
The new guidelines also serve as a reminder of the issue of recycling contamination in Auckland.
Nearly a quarter of the material collected in Auckland’s kerbside recycling is contaminated with non-recyclable items, costing ratepayers an extra $3m a year in sorting and disposal.
Materials that show up in bins include food; textiles, carpets and clothes; nappies, medical waste and garden waste; soft plastic and plastic bags; bagged recycling and rubbish, and lithium-ion batteries and appliances.
For more information on the new recycling guidelines, see the Auckland Council website.
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Poll: Have you ever been bullied?
People associate bullying with children in schools, but it can actually stretch beyond childhood to workplaces or neighbourhoods.
This Friday is Pink Shirt Day, which began in Canada in 2007 when two students took a stand against homophobic bullying after a new student was harassed for wearing pink. People across the globe are now encouraged to wear pink on this day to take a stand against bullying and promote inclusivity.
Have you or your whānau ever experienced bullying? Share your thoughts on Pink Shirt Day below.
Type 'Not For Print' if you wish your comments to be excluded from the Conversations column of your local paper.
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80% Yes
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19.6% No
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0.4% Other - I'll share below
Record numbers are leaving NZ – who could blame them?
Migration figures show a record number of New Zealanders are choosing not to stick around – and you don’t have to look hard to figure out why, writes Q+A presenter Jack Tame.
No data point says more about the current state of our country than the fact that record numbers of New Zealanders don’t want to be here.
Over the last two years, the quarterly release of migration statistics has steadily plotted a massive exodus of New Zealand citizens.
Once all citizen returns and departures were accounted for in the year to March 31, provisional net numbers indicated New Zealand lost more than a thousand Kiwis every week.
But why?
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The pandemic restrictions are over and the borders have been open for New Zealanders for more than two years.
Pent-up demand for overseas adventure could explain the initial post-Covid surge in departures, and some New Zealanders who returned during the worst of Covid-19 have left again. But the more recent departures are better attributed to other factors.
As I’ve noted before, what’s perhaps most extraordinary about the huge outward migration of New Zealand citizens is it has coincided with near-record inbound migration of non-citizens.
Facing pressure from business groups amidst a global labour shortage, the previous government responded by massively relaxing immigration settings.
In the year to March 31, New Zealand recorded a net migration gain of 163,000 non-citizens.
Accounting for both the provisional citizen and non-citizen migration flows, there are 111,000 extra people in New Zealand than the year before. Add to that the births and deaths for the same period, and our overall population has increased by approximately 130,000 people in the last year.
During the same period, however, the number of consents issued for new houses dropped 25% on the previous 12 months.
As our population surges and construction slows, the average rent paid by the generation of New Zealanders most likely not to own their own homes has increased. TradeMe Property recorded a median rent increase of 8.3% in the year to March 2024 — more than double the corresponding annual increase in wages.
This renting generation, coincidentally, is the same generation most likely to have left New Zealand.
Of all migrant departures of New Zealand citizens, people between the ages of 18 and 30 made up almost 40%.
But even older New Zealanders — who are more likely to have established careers, families, and assets — are leaving in huge numbers. Accounting for all arrivals and departures, a net total of more than 7500 New Zealand citizens between the ages of 31-40 left our shores.
So, what will stem the bleed?
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In the short term, at least, there is perhaps little economic reason to stay.
The new Government has moved swiftly to tighten immigration settings but, as the full impact of higher interest rates seeps through the economy, unemployment is steadily increasing.
The national unemployment rate currently sits at 4.3% and most economists expect it to climb above 5% in the coming months. The Māori unemployment rate is already at its highest point in four years at 8.2%.
Young Zealanders now find themselves competing with more people for relatively fewer houses and relatively fewer jobs.
And, as we enter a winter of economic discontent, who could blame them for leaving?
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Well being this winter
Hello neighbors
I have been teaching wellbeing activities at Avondale Community centre for the last 10 years every Saturday morning 8.30 to 9. 30 am
It includes yoga acupressure energy healing relaxation and meditation
$10 covers expenses for hall etc
Be a part of this beautiful group and make new friends
Uma Chopra
Avondale Yoga
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