Here are some ways to recycle your unwanted or disused items.
Rethink Waste Education Centre
Tairāwhiti Environment Centre 386 Palmerston Road
Ph: (06) 867 4708
Hours: Tuesday - Friday 9am - 3pm
Free recycle drop off for:
| Ewaste - see list below | Tetra Pak - see list below | Soft plastics |
| Batteries - household, hearing aid, tool batteries | Aluminum wine bottle caps and foil | Mobile phones |
| Garnier brand - skincare, plastic packaging, tubes and caps | Coffee pods - Nescafe, Nespresso , Moccona l'Or | Toner and ink cartridges |
| Colgate brand - plastic toothbrushes, toothpaste | Fluorescent light bulbs (not LED) | Metal bottle caps |
| Shaving razors - Gillette or any brand, blades, packaging both disposal and non disposable |
A-Z of items to recycle, reuse, upcycle
Purchase Bokashi Zing from the Tairāwhiti Environment Centre.
Appliances
- Refuse transfer stations accept metal appliances
- Whiteware - M E Jukes, 180 Stanley Road - small charge
- Whiteware - Metalco Recyclers 22 Banks Street
When you purchase a new appliance, ask the retailer to take your old appliance
Batteries
Household batteries
- Tairāwhiti Environment Centre, free recycling drop off - any household batteries including hearing aid and tool batteries.
Vehicle battery
- Gisborne Autoelectrics, 159 Carnarvon Street
- Metalco Recyclers 22 Banks Street
- Bensons Auto Electrical, 160 Kahutia Street
Books and magazines
- Hospital, doctors waiting rooms, charitable organisations
- Kindergartens, childcare facilities and Kohanga Reo
- Kerbside recycling collection
- Recycling drop off at Waste Management NZ Ltd, 75 Innes Street
Bricks and concrete
- M E Jukes, Stanley Road - small charge
Building materials
- Trading Post Recyclers, 71 Awapuni Road
- Neil Andrew Timber Recycling, 86 Bloomfield Rd - visit website
Cans
- Kerbside recycling collection - steel and aluminium cans, empty household aerosols
- Waste Management NZ Ltd recycling depot 75 Innes Street
- Schools and church groups may collect aluminium cans or can tabs as fundraisers.
- Metalco Recyclers 22 Banks Street
Car bodies or wrecks
- Metalco Recyclers 22 Banks Street - no charge
Cellphones
Mobile phone recycling scheme, Tairawhiti Environment Centre 386 Palmerston Road.
Recycle your old mobile phone and raise funds for Sustainable Coastlines.
The proceeds from the mobile phone recycling scheme helps towards the long-term vision of beautiful beaches and healthy waters.
Regardless of condition, make or model all mobile phones are accepted by the Mobile Phone Recycling Scheme. Phones received are graded, data wiped and sim card removed and destroyed. Drop of in store at:
- Spark, Customhouse Street
- Vodafone, 2 Peel Street
- 2degrees, 201 Gladstone Road
Chemicals
- Farm chemicals - Agrecovery Rural Recycling Programme
- Others - contact us for advice
Clothing - good, clean used
- Friends and family (second-time around, clothes swaps, dress up for children)
- Kindergartens, childcare facilities and Kohanga Reo
- Charitable organisations
- Flea market or garage sale
- Advertise - Eastland Trader, Gisborne Herald, TradeMe, Facebook
Computers - eWaste
Free recycling at Tairawhiti Environment Centre.
- laptops, desk top computers, tablets, notebooks, palmtops, computer monitors, printers, scanners and multifunction devices, computer accessories - mice, modems, keyboards, USBs, modems, cables, toners and ink cartridges.
If you buy a new computer, ask the retailer if they will take your old one.
Concrete and bricks
- M E Jukes, Stanley Road - small charge
Containers (agrichemical)
- Plastic agrichemical containers - Agrecovery Rural Recycling Programme
Curtains
- Charity outlets
- Red Cross, 336 Palmerston Rd
Event recycling
- Contact Waste Management NZ Ltd
- Contact us for free recycling bins and flags
Farm waste
- Chemical containers at AgRecovery, visit Agrecovery's website
- For chemical disposal contact Agrecovery ph: 0800 247 326
- Bale wrap - Plasback
- Waste Management NZ Ltd, 75 Innes Street
Gas bottles
- Dive & Gas, 377 Childers Rd, ph 867 9662 - LPG refill
- Bunnings - exchange gas bottle for a filled one
Glass bottles and jars
- Kerbside recycling collection
- Waste Management NZ Ltd, 75 Innes Street
- Kindergartens, childcare facilities and kohanga reo
- Useful for jams/pickles etc, advertise via Eastland Trader, Facebook
Garden waste
- Tree pruning can be put aside for kindling or firewood
- Hire a shredder or use a contractor (see tree services in the yellow pages)
- Employ a green waste contractor (see lawn mowing services in the yellow pages)
- Judds, 164 McDonalds Rd - make and sell compost
- Waste Management NZ Ltd, 75 Innes Street
Household items
- Secondhand Sunday - first Sunday of each month except January, register with us
- Charitable organisations or church groups
- Advertise Eastland Trader. Gisborne Herald, Facebook
- Secondhand dealers
Knitting wool
- Charitable organisations, church groups
- Kindergartens, childcare centres, schools and kohanga reo
- Rest homes
Light bulbs
- Tairawhiti Environment Centre, 386 Palmerston Rd, take fluorescent light bulbs - safely recycled by Interwaste
Metal
Metal recyclers take most items that are predominantly metal.
- Metalco Recyclers Ltd, 22 Banks Street, visit website
- M E Jukes, Stanley Road
Mobile phones
see cellphones
Needles and syringes
Hauroa Tairawhiti has a system for collecting needles and syringes. Safe sharps disposal bins are located at pharmacies.
Oil
- City transfer station, Innes Street - engine waste oil
- Fat, oil, grease from food - visit Direct Fats & Oils
Paint
Resene Colourshop accepts unwanted paint and paint packaging.
- Visit their website for PaintWise info and shop hours, 291 Palmerston Road
Paper and cardboard
- Kerbside recycling collection
- 24/7 recycling drop off at Waste Management NZ Ltd, 75 Innes Street
- Kindergartens, childcare facilities and kohanga reo
Phones
see cellphones
Printer or photocopier cartridges
- Business Applications 150 Grey Street (Brother and Ricoh cartridges and toners)
- Office Products, 62 Peel Street
Plastic - soft plastics
Clean soft plastics can be recycled only in the bins at various locations, not in your kerbside recycling bin:
- Bread bags
- Produce and frozen food bags
- Wrappers for cereals, snack food, dairy products, confectionery
- Lightly foiled bags like chip packets
- Courier pack bags and bubble wrap
- Garden potting mix bags
- Dry pet food bags
For more information check recycling.kiwi.nz
The soft plastic must be clean, dry and empty - the recycling bins are located at:
- Countdown
- The Warehouse
- Pak'nSave
- Tairāwhiti Environment Centre
- Four Squares at Tokomaru Bay, Ruatoria, Te Araroa
Plastic containers
Kerbside recycling collection only takes plastic grades 1, 2 and 5.
This is milk, drink and detergent bottles, ice cream containers, yoghurt pots and deli containers - wash and remove the lids from bottles as they're not recyclable.
- Waste Management NZ Ltd recycling drop off, Innes Street
- Waste Management NZ Ltd do a commercial collection of recyclables, including shrink-wrap
- Kindergartens, childcare centres, kohanga reo
- Resthomes take clean ice-cream containers
Recycling
- Kerbside recycling collection
Soil, dirt, topsoil
- M E Jukes, 180 Stanley Road
Spectacles - eye wear, glasses
Drop them into any optician, they're used in developing countries.
Timber
- Trading Post Recyclers, 71 Awapuni Road
- Neil Andrew Timber Recycling, 88 Bloomfield Rd - visit website
Televisions
When you purchase a new TV, ask the retailer to take your old one
The eWaste collection programme is currently on hold in our region.
Tetra Pak cartons
Milk, juice, soup and stock cartons
TetraPak cartons must be cut flat, rinsed clean and dry.
The tetraPak is sent to Hamilton where it's upcycled to building material.
- Drop them off to Tairawhiti environment centre - no charge
- Don't put them in your kerbside recycling bin
Whiteware
When you purchase a new appliance, ask the retailer to take your old appliance.
- M E Jukes, 180 Stanley Road - small charge
- Metalco Recyclers 22 Banks Street