Recycling and Rubbish
Council is looking at how to improve waste services including public bins, residential rubbish collection, recycling and safe disposal of what’s left (residual waste). The aim is to improve the types of services offered and how they are paid for.
This page contains information on how to dispose of waste responsibly and what is being done about illegal dumping.
Illegal waste dumping includes any waste left on public property. In the last 3 years council has dealt with 17 recorded cases of illegal dumping. Over the last few years illegal dumping has cost ratepayers approximately $10,000 a year to clean up.
Illegal dumping has damaged our environment and spoiled parts of this precious place for everyone. Dumped items have included fridges, tyres, general rubbish, animal carcasses, human waste. In addition, half a tonne of waste is taken out of the town bins every day. Town waste bins are regularly abused and used by a few locals for household or commercial rubbish.
If illegal dumping continues to grow as a problem, Council may also look setting up at additional enforcement and regulatory options such as signs or CCTV in key areas.
Help stop the dodgy dumpers
- Talk to your friends, colleagues, whanau and neighbours about this – spread the word that dodgy dumping is not acceptable and costs our environment and our ratepayers.
- Tell Council about any waste you see so that we can get it fixed. Please provide any details of any vehicles involved, such as registration plate, colour, make and model. You can do this by:
- Putting in a request for service (leave us photos and the exact location)
- Calling 03 319 5026
- Email us
- For safety reasons, and for us to investigate, we ask that people leave the dumped material as it is and don’t touch it.
- What happens then?
- The job is logged in Council systems so we can track where issues are happening and how quickly and how well we deal with them.
- An inspection may be needed (especially if the issue is around human waste or other hazardous materials)
- A clean up happens and rubbish is checked to see if it can be traced back to those responsible
What illegal dumping costs our community
Most dodgy dumping is done by a small handful of locals. Some blame recent changes at Innovative Waste Kaikoura being 'too expensive', 'too difficult' or 'not open at the right times', while there's always room for improvement, Kaikoura is actually cheaper than most of the surrounding districts, has a friendly team and is open 6 days a week for most weeks of the year.
Our community end up losing out because of illegal dumping in the following ways:
- Council time to deal with the issue – that’s time that could be spending improving other services
- The cost to ratepayers of clean-up and disposal – that’s around $10,000 a year and expected to get more expensive unless things improve.
- Kaikōura is home to many special native species and landscapes. This unique biodiversity helps keep our air clear, our water clean, and provide food, education, medicine and recreation for our local residents and visitors. Illegally dumping waste spoils this precious place and pollutes landscapes, waterways and marine environments.
- Litter also has impacts for our economy (e.g. tourism).
What Council and IWK do to help reduce illegal dumping
- Provide collection, recycling and rubbish disposal services
- Budget $10,000 per year to pay for the clean-up and disposal of reported illegally dumped waste
- Contract services for the removal of human waste.
- Provide monthly inspections and clean-ups (if needed) of key areas including , Kiwa Road and South Bay
- Provide public education on how and where to dispose of waste responsibly
- IWK is happy to work one on one with individuals, businesses or community groups to help them understand how to reduce and recycle their waste as much as possible and make visits to IWK as cheap, quick and easy as possible.
- Offenders caught illegally dumping rubbish will be ordered to remove the rubbish
Council does not remove dumped rubbish on private property. The owner of the property is responsible for the disposal of rubbish dumped on their property.
There is no roadside rubbish collection in Kaikōura. Household waste needs to be taken to Innovative Waste Kaikoura (IWK).
- Monday 9am-4pm
- Tuesday CLOSED
- Wednesday 9am-4pm
- Thursday 9am-4pm
- Friday 9am-4pm
- Saturday and Sunday 10am-4pm
Weekly roadside recycling collection is available throughout the District. If the collection day is a public holiday, it will be collected the next working day.
- Kaikōura Township and South Bay - Weekly Thursdays
- Rural recycling collection from Oaro - Kēkerengū - Weekly Wednesdays
- Find out more on IWK's website here
Recent changes both in NZ and overseas mean it's harder or more expensive to recycle certain materials. If IWK collect materials they can't recycle, ratepayers end up paying for it over time as our landfill fills up or Innovative Waste has to pay to get rid of it. Cutting corners at the kerbside still costs your pocket in the long run.
If you need more information, don't have a green bag or want to check collection days/times, call the team on 03 319 7148 or visit their website or Facebook.
Recycling bins are available from IWK, to arrange yours fill out a New Urban Recycling Crates form and hand it into Innovative Waste Kaikōura.
Handy tips to make sure your recycling gets collected:
- Wash and squash all recycling
- Separate your glass
- Use the provided green bags for papers
- Flatten cardboard and stack under containers
- Make sure your recycling is out by 7am.
IWK Will accept the following as recycling:
- All plastic including clean shopping bags/glad wrap/bubble wrap
- Aluminium and steel cans
- Plastic bottles and containers, including soft drink and milk (1-7's)
- Newspapers
- Paper, junk mail, magazines etc.
- Cardboard.
IWK will NOT accept the following as recycling:
- Personal hygiene items
- Polystyrene meat trays
- Foil lined wrappings
- Chip and biscuit wrappers
- Coffee and cat food sachets
- Cigarette butts
- Toothpaste tubes
- Fiberglass
- Rubber.
- Remove all recyclable material. Includes, plastic, paper, cardboard, metal and glass. Even broken glass and crockery can be recycled. This can be disposed of at (or collected by) IWK free of charge.
- Remove hazardous substances. Includes house and garden chemicals and cleaners, medicines. Small amounts can be disposed of at IWK free of charge. For larger volumes a small charge may apply.
- Compost/recycle all food waste. That includes any and all food scraps, dated or expired food, napkins and paper food wrapping. This can all can be disposed of at IWK free of charge. (Township residents can have theirs collected for free.)
- Compost/recycle all garden waste. Includes: grass cuttings, tree and shrub trimmings, leaves, weeds and general garden waste. This can be disposed of for a small fee at IWK.
- Disposable baby nappies, sanitary items, etc can be disposed of at IWK's Nappy Disposal Station in a special bag (avaiable for purchase from IWK). There is no additional charge after you buy a bag.
Business are required by our District Plan to separate waste and recycling.
Your business' recycling can be disposed of free of charge at IWK. Alternatively, a business recycling collection service is offered Mondays and Fridays from $11.25 per week.
If your waste can’t be recycled, it can be taken to IWK and its' disposal paid for by weight or you may be able to have it collected for a fee.
Find out about IWK's business services here.
Want to cut costs, help our environment and make the most of free recycling?
- Make sure your staff are trained to use the recycling system
- Separate at source: have a separate bin for each item inside your business in each area, and a recycling area outside that is easily accessible
- Have a kitchen system: even if you kitchen is only a smoko room, have a bucket for food waste, another for glass, one for other recycling, and one for waste.
- Appoint a recycling champion: use them to train new staff and keep everyone recycling.
Let's talk rubbish & recycling
Council and Innovative Waste Kaikōura are talking rubbish and recycling with residents, ratepayers and iwi.
A review is underway to make sure rubbish and recycling services in Kaikōura are designed, delivered and paid for in a way that helps build the kind of community and future our residents and ratepayers want to see.
With a diversion rate of around 50% IWK has one of the highest diversion rates of resource recovery centres in NZ. However, the landfill is filling up and has approximately 18 months of operational life left before space runs out. In addition, the Waste Minimisation and Management Strategy and Plan for Kaikoura are due for a refresh.
Over 2019 and 2020 Council, IWK the Kaikōura community, iwi and ratepayers will need to work hard, and work together, to develop a new strategy for waste minimisation in Kaikōura. The strategy will align with tikanga Maori, encourage local economic growth and diversity and balance affordability against environmental impact.
The draft strategy will be developed in early 2020 and will be consulted on in as part of the Annual Plan consultation.
Waste Management and Minimisation
A steering group has been formed to lead a Waste Management and Minimisation project.
The vision for the project is;
"Waste minimisation and management solutions help Kaikoura move forward as a great place to live with a strong, well-connected community, that is ecologically exemplary and economically prosperous"
The outcomes for the project are;
- Kaikōura remains a community that prides itself on managing its waste as sustainably and responsibly as it can afford to
- Waste minimisation and management solutions align with tikanga Maori and uphold the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi
- Waste minimisation and management solutions balance cost against environmental sustainability, and operational capability and efficiency
- Waste minimisation and management solutions support a district economy that is diverse and provides continuous employment opportunities
- Waste minimisation and management solutions are fit for future, with a minimum viable life of 10 years.
- The Kaikōura community understands the operational and financial realities of waste management in a modern context, resulting in acceptable satisfaction with levels of service around waste
The steering group is responsible for ensuring; a fit for future new waste minimisation strategy is adopted by council no later than 30 June 2020, a fit for future waste management facility is operational on the existing resource recovery (Innovative Waste) site by no later than June 2021 and a fit for purpose consented and compliant closure management plan for the current landfill is developed and implemented by 2021. Early estimates indicate a total project cost of around $4million.
The steering group members are; KDC CEO Angela Oosthuizen (Chair/Project Director), Innovative Waste Kaikōura General Manager Jacki Remihana, Councillors Milton and Bond, Te Rūnanga O Kaikōura representative Clint McConchie, Communications and Engagement Manager Libby Clifford, Community Facilities Engineer Bruce Apperley, Strategy, Planning and Policy Manager Matt Hoggard, Waste Minimisation Project Manager Chris Purchas and Solid Waste Solution Project Manager Logan Thomson.
The community will have opportunities to have their say during the project including a survey in October 2019, workshops later in 2019, and formal consultation as part of the 2020/2021 Annual Plan early in 2020.
Earthquake related waste
Kaikōura District is a 'Zero Waste Community'. Our vision is to send zero waste to landfill. We currently divert approximately 75% of our waste away from landfill.
The magnitude 7.8 earthquake on 14 November 2016 caused extensive damage to land, coastal areas, buildings, homes and infrastructure in our district. It is estimated about 8000 tonnes of earthquake waste will be produced – equating to about eight years’ of waste for Kaikōura.
If you’re doing any work on your property, including demolishing it, contact us and make sure you’re following the Waste Minimisation guidelines.
Useful Links
21 November 2019
