There will be no changes to Hamilton City Council’s kerbside collections for Christmas and New Year.
The council says Hamilton’s kerbside collections team works Monday to Friday throughout the year, which means you should put your bin out as usual, even if it falls on a public holiday.
If your collection day is Monday, put your bins out as usual by 7am.
Council resource recovery delivery manager Trent Fowles said it suits contractors to work Monday to Friday, rather than trying to shift things around for the holidays or weekends.
“Collecting the city’s kerbside rubbish and recycling is physically demanding and it’s important to each of our contractor’s wellbeing to have two consecutive days off each week.
“Rest assured, the hard-working team will get their chance to take their holidays down the track.”
People tend to produce more rubbish over Christmas and New Year, because of extra packaging, wrapping paper and food. Because of this, reducing what goes to landfill is a priority for the council’s Sustainable Resource Recovery Unit.
Hamiltonians sent 1,248,000kg of waste to landfill last December. Not surprisingly, Hamilton residents generate more recycling in December than any other month, with 740,000kg sent to the sorting centre this time last year.
“Between gift packaging and food, the red bins can fill up quickly. Please ensure you are only recycling clean plastics 1-7, clean tins, cans, paper and cardboard,” said Fowles.
“Spare a thought for the team who sort the city’s recycling by hand. Cleaning your recycling goes a long way to making their jobs easier.
“If you aren’t sure which wrapping is recyclable, do the scrunch test. If it bounces back when you release your hand, the wrapping is most likely non-recyclable synthetic plastic and needs to go in the red bin.”
The Lincoln Street Resource Recovery Centre and Wickham Street Organic Centre will be closed Christmas Day and New Year’s Day but will be operating from 9am to 4pm on public holidays for excess rubbish, recycling or green waste.
If you have a missed collection or aren’t sure which day your collection is, use the address finder on fightthelandfill.co.nz or download the free Antenno App.