Pursuant to section 49 of the Waste Minimisation Act 2008 (“Act”), I, the Honourable Rachel Brooking, Associate Minister for the Environment, give the following notice.

Notice

1. Title

This notice is the Standard Materials for Kerbside Collections Notice 2023.

2. Commencement

This notice comes into force the day after the date of its notification in the New Zealand Gazette. The standards commence to apply as set out below.

3. Interpretation

Two dimensional items: Flat items (e.g. a piece of paper).

Three dimensional items: Items that are not flat, having height as well as width and depth (e.g. a bottle).

Compostable packaging: Packaging that has been designed to be broken down by microbes during composting. Compostable packaging can be made from plant-based raw materials, petroleum raw materials, or a mixture of the two and may or may not be certified to international compostability standards.

Dry recycling: The collection of common recyclable packaging materials, such as glass, steel, aluminium, some plastics, paper and cardboard.

Food organics: Food scraps including food and any parts of food such as those discarded during food preparation. Includes both edible and inedible parts of food.

Garden organics: Vegetative materials discarded from gardening activities.

Liquid paper board: Cartons made from paperboard intended to hold liquids. Typically made with layers of paper, plastic and sometimes aluminium. Liquid paperboard cartons are commonly used for alternative milk products, juice and stock.

Noxious weeds: Invasive plants that are considered harmful to the environment by a Territorial Authority.

Resin identification code: Many plastic products are labelled with the ASTM International Resin Identification Coding System, often abbreviated RIC. The RIC indicates the type of plastic a product is made from. The RIC is a number inside an equilateral triangle (some products still use the older version of the RIC where the number is inside a ‘chasing arrows’ symbol).

Tethered lids: Lids which remain firmly attached to their base container after being opened and during use.

4. Nature of Performance Standards

I set the following performance standards (“Standards”) for accepted materials, excluded materials, and discretionary materials for Territorial Authority managed household kerbside collection services (“Services”) under section 49 of the Waste Minimisation Act 2008.

These Standards will apply from 1 February 2024. From 1 February 2024, the Services must accept the standard materials, must not accept the excluded materials, and will have discretion over accepting the discretionary materials as specified for the Services in this notice.

The Standards apply to the implementation of Services that are set out in Territorial Authorities’ Waste Management and Minimisation Plans (WMMPs) and are in operation on 1 February 2024. For any dry recycling, food organics, or combined food organics and garden organics Services that start operating after this date, this notice will apply once the Service begins and is included in the respective Territorial Authority’s WMMP.

5. Extended Timeline for Service Changes Requiring New Infrastructure

Hurunui District Council, Westland District Council and Clutha District Council have until 1 January 2027 to add glass to their existing dry recycling collections. Gore District Council has until 1 January 2027 to add paper and cardboard; plastic bottles, trays and containers of resin identification codes 1, 2, and 5; and aluminium and steel tins and cans to its existing dry recycling collection. In all other respects, the Services of these Territorial Authorities must comply with the Standards from 1 February 2024.

6. Applicable collections

The Standards outlined in this notice apply to the Services listed below:

1. dry recycling collections
2. food organics collections
3. combined food organics and garden organics (FOGO) collections.

The Standards apply to Services managed directly by Territorial Authorities and collections that Territorial Authorities manage via a contract.

A Service is considered to be a ‘kerbside’ collection subject to the Standards outlined in this notice if it uses kerbside receptacles such as wheeled bins, crates, food scrap bins/caddies, collected bags or similar. It will be considered a kerbside collection even if these receptacles are not collected directly from the kerbside. For example, apartment blocks sometimes use a centralised on-site collection point. Such collections will be considered a kerbside Service subject to this notice if the apartment block collection is managed by a Territorial Authority and the receptacles used are the same or similar to other kerbside receptacles collected directly from the kerbside.

7. Accepted Materials

The following materials are to be accepted:

• Dry recycling accepted materials: glass bottles and jars; paper and cardboard; plastic bottles, trays and containers of resin identification codes 1, 2, and 5; and aluminium and steel tins and cans
• Food organics accepted materials: food organics only
• FOGO accepted materials: food organics and garden organics only.

To meet the performance standard, Territorial Authorities must clearly list the accepted materials in public communications (website pages, brochures, social media posts, etc) about the Services affected by this notice.

8. Excluded Materials

For clarity, the following materials must not be accepted:

• Dry recycling excluded materials: all three dimensional items smaller than 50mm at their widest point; all two dimensional items smaller than 100mm by 140mm; all glass, plastic, steel and aluminium containers larger than four litres; lids, caps, and tops (excluding tethered lids); aerosols; liquid paperboard; aluminium foil and trays; plastics with resin identification codes 3, 4, 6, or 7; soft plastics; plant pots; paint containers; and hazardous substance containers
• Food organics and FOGO excluded materials: paper and cardboard; compostable packaging; tea bags; sawdust from treated timber; animal waste; and ash.

9. Discretionary Materials

Territorial Authorities have discretion to specify whether they accept the following materials:

• Food organics discretionary materials: compostable plastic bin liners or compostable fibre (paper, cardboard or other types of biomass) bin liners; seashells; and small amounts of garden organics
• FOGO discretionary materials: compostable plastic bin liners or compostable fibre (paper, cardboard or other types of biomass) bin liners; seashells; fibrous or woody plants; noxious weeds; and garden material likely to contain chemical spray residues.

Refer to the Kerbside collections standard materials guidance document for further guidance on accepted, excluded and discretionary materials: https://environment.govt.nz/publications/standard-materials-for-kerbside-collections-guidance-for-territorial-authorities.