Kerbside rubbish collection

Changes to kerbside collections over the holiday season

If your normal kerbside collection day falls on Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year's Day or 2 January, your rubbish and recycling will be collected one day later than usual, as detailed in the table below.

Week of Christmas

Usual collection day	Will be collected on
Monday 23 December	Monday 23 December (no change)
Tuesday 24 December	Tuesday 24 December (no change)
Wednesday 25 December (Christmas Day)	Thursday 26 December
Thursday 26 December (Boxing Day)	Friday 27 December
Friday 27 December	Friday 27 December (no change)

Week of New Year's

Usual collection day	Will be collected on
Monday 30 December	Monday 30 December (no change)
Tuesday 31 December	Tuesday 31 December (no change)
Wednesday 1 January (New Year's Day)	Thursday 2 January
Thursday 2 January	Friday 3 January
Friday 3 January	Friday 3 January (no change)

Quick tips for the festive season

Remember it’s a super busy time for our contractors over the holiday period with larger volumes of rubbish and recycling than usual to pick up, especially cardboard! Extra trucks and staff will be working - you may see two trucks picking up your recycling during the busiest times.

Please help out our hardworking contractors by following these quick tips:

Have your rubbish and recycling kerbside by 7.30am on the day of collection.
Collections are likely to run later in the day than usual and at times, may extend into the following day so if your rubbish or recycling hasn't been picked up you can leave it out for collection the next morning.
Separate your recycling into three product streams, using three different bins.
Remember, only plastic types 1, 2 and 5 can be recycled - all other plastic goes in the rubbish.
Flatten cardboard boxes and remove lids from washed plastic bottles.

Collection days and times

Weekly rubbish and recycling kerbside collection services are provided for households and businesses in urban areas across the Taupō District. To see what day kerbside collections run in your area go to our collection day map and enter your address into the search field.

Go to our collection day map

Top tips for your collection day

Place your rubbish bags and recycling bins kerbside by 7.30am on your collection day
Rubbish bags must be no bigger than 60 litres
A pre-paid orange sticker must be on every rubbish bag, unless it is a yellow Enviro NZ prepaid bag
There is no limit to the number of rubbish bags you can put out for collection, as long as the bags used are not bigger than 60 litres and each bag has an orange sticker applied
Leave bags and bins as close as you can to the kerbside and clear of the footpath
Wrap any broken glass or sharp objects thoroughly before putting them in your refuse bag
Two smaller plastic bags or bag liners (30 litres maximum combined) tied together will be accepted with half an orange sticker
If refuse bags or recyclable items are placed out for removal and do not, for any reason, comply with what is allowed, the contractor shall apply a sticker stating why they do not comply.

Rubbish bag sizes

You can put any rubbish bag out for collection as long as it's no more than 60 litres.

While there are rubbish bags on the market bigger than 60 litres, these are usually easy to spot as they are marked "XL" or for garden waste.

The team service 18,000 properties a week, lifting and throwing over 3,000 bags into a truck every day. The crew work hard - in all weather conditions - so let’s keep them safe from back injuries.

Orange pre-paid stickers

One pre-paid orange sticker must be applied to each bag (unless it is a yellow Enviro NZ prepaid bag).

Orange stickers are $2.50 each.
You can purchase orange stickers from our customer service centres and other outlets in the Taupō District.

Where to buy rubbish bag stickers (PDF, 41KB)

What can go in your rubbish bags

Everyday rubbish and waste can go into your rubbish bags for kerbside collection including:

✔️ Polystyrene containers
✔️ Wet wipes
✔️ Nappies and sanitary products
✔️ Sweepings
✔️ Dust, bones
✔️ Cold ashes
✔️ Cartons
✔️ Packaging
✔️ Plastics with recycling symbols 3, 4, 6 and 7 and other non-recyclable items

What can't go in your rubbish bags

❌ Hot ashes
❌ Garden waste
❌ Hedge clippings
❌ Hazardous waste
❌ Recyclables such as glass bottles and jars, paper and cardboard, cans and plastics with recycling symbols 1, 2 or 5. These items should be placed in a recycling bin - find out more about kerbside recycling.

Be careful with your rubbish and recycling

Ever wondered if something is safe to recycle or put in the rubbish? If you're asking the question - you've probably got your answer! If you have to be careful with something you're disposing of, the contractors picking it up could probably be injured by it.

Anything dangerous, sharp or pointy should be wrapped in newspaper or preferably cardboard before being put out for collection. This includes:

Broken glass
Needles
Skewers
Broken plates
Gardening equipment
Kitchen knives

Please wrap it before you throw it away, and keep our contractors - and yourselves - safe!