It’s National Recycling Week, a timely reminder of how vital recycling is for waste reduction and sustainability. Here’s a few important tips to recycle bottle containers properly.
1. Remove lids
It’s best to remove the lids from plastic bottles before recycling. Because the lids are small and lightweight, they’re often not properly sorted by recycling machines and can cause contamination in the recycling process.
2. Lids in rubbish
After removing the lids, place them in the rubbish bin instead of the recycling bin, as they can’t be recycled through standard kerbside recycling programs.
3. Remove labels
Although it might be acceptable to leave labels on, removing them can simplify the recycling process and help reduce the risk of contamination which may cause the entire batch to be rejected.
4. Rinse
It is highly recommended to wash the inside of the bottles with water at least three times to remove waste or residue that could contaminate the rest of the recycling.
5. Recycling bin
Put the containers in a designated recycling bin, making sure they are clean and free of any contaminants. Also, do not squash the containers and any bottles larger than 2 litres should be cut in half when disposed of in domestic settings.
Join Recycling Week 2025 | Reduce Waste & Recycle Better | Reclaim – New Zealand
