FAQ

Our funding predominantly comes from the Ministry for the Environment, with smaller amounts of funding from Foundation North and Kaipara District Council

Yes! We definitely need help from volunteers. You can visit our volunteers page and fill in a form to register your interest in volunteering with us.

Kaipara Refuse Ltd is the official collector & processor of kerbside recycling in Kaipara.  They are based in Ruawai and cover Mangawhai, Paparoa, Whakapirau, Maungaturoto, Kaiwaka, Baylys Beach, Ruawai, & Dargaville.

Watch our video about their work here!

1, 2 and 5 plastics are classed as "easy to recycle" and have several possibilities for reuse.  Offshore recycling plants are no longer accepting our trash (and rightly so!)  In NZ, we cannot recycle anything but #1, #2 and #5 plastic and some soft plastic, and it is likely other types will be banned here soon anyway.
Currently all other plastic in NZ goes to landfill.

No.  Soft plastics are currently not collected in the kerbside recycling.  You can however take your soft plastics to your nearest Soft Plastics Recycling bin, located at selected supermarkets.  A list of current locations of these bins can be found here: www.recycling.kiwi.nz/store-locator

The number will generally be on the bottom of the plastic container, inside a triangle recycling symbol.  Sometimes you do have to look quite hard!  If there is no number to be found, unfortunately it will have to go into landfill.

We believe food scraps should be seen as a resource rather than waste. By sending them to landfill this resource is not only wasted but as it breaks down it creates methane which is harmful to our environment. By composting our food scraps and combining with carbon sources like paper, saw dust, dried leaves, mulch etc we are creating richer more healthy soils to grow food in.  Many of our soils worldwide are very depleted and need the nutrients put back into them. Many of the minerals needed in the soils can be found all around us in things like seaweed, animal manure, comfrey leaves, fish bones and the list goes on!

Some of our compost goes to the Mangawhai community garden to feed their soils. They produce fruit and vegetables distributed to people in need in the community through the Te Whai Trust. 

We also frequently bag up some of the compost to offer it for sale! 
Join our newsletter to find out when you can purchase some!

Currently this project is funded by the Ministry for the Environment, but we want to run this service long term and possibly replicate this model in other areas, which means it must sustain itself in the long term.

By paying for this service you are helping us towards paying the staff needed to operate the compost as well as the driver to pick up the food scraps. We also have admin costs and other general costs related to the compost system. Our hope is by taking food scraps out of your usual landfill service you will reduce the cost of your general waste, plus help the environment.

We have been collecting buckets weekly on Monday mornings with buckets put out at the kerbside by 8am. 

We recommend having a little compost bin or caddy in your kitchen and filling it with your scraps. Once this is full take it and empty it into the bag in the kerbside bin we have provided. Keep this in a cool place with lid closed (ie - under your house). If you are concerned about smell you can place the scraps in the fridge or freezer and pop them into your bin on the day you put it out.

No. Unfortunately there is so much variety of compostable packaging out there that it’s very hard to know which ones are and which one aren’t truly compostable.

We are asking that people do not use additional compostable bin liners.

These bags are a real effort to compost, so we want to only take the one we provide with our bins. You are welcome to put a paper towel or thin layer of newspaper at the bottom of your kitchen caddy to help keep it clean, or just give it a quick rinse after you empty it out each time.