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What to do with unwanted items

Here are some ways to recycle your unwanted or disused items.

Rethink Waste Education Centre

Tairawhiti Environment Centre 386 Palmerston Road
Ph: (06) 867 4708
Hours: Tuesday - Friday 9am - 3pm, Saturday 11am - 1pm

Free recycle drop off for:

  • Tetrapak - cardboard milk, juice, soup, stock cartons. Must be cut flat, clean and dry
  • Dolce Gusto coffee pods
  • Colgate products
  • used Bic pens and markers
  • household batteries
  • florescent light bulbs and mobile phones.

You can purchase: Bokashi zing, recycling bin nets.

A-Z of items to recycle, reuse, upcycle

On this page

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 - Tairawhiti Environment Centre

  • Gisborne Autoelectrics, 159 Carnarvon Street - no household batteries
  • Metalco Recyclers 22 Banks Street - vehicle batteries only
  • Bensons Auto Electrical, 160 Kahutia Street - no household batteries

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

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

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

Take your old computers and computer accessories to Tairawhiti Environment Centre.

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)

Curtains

  • Charity outlets
  • Red Cross, 336 Palmerston Rd

Event recycling

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.

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
  • 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.

Tetrapak 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.

Recycling tetrapak

Whiteware

When you purchase a new appliance, ask the retailer to take your old appliance.