Reminder that grace period is over for plastic bags

Palmerston North City Council would like to remind residents that from today Monday 30th June the council will issue strike notices to those residents who place plastic bags in their recycling.

“From today our collectors will be issuing a Contaminated Recycling Bin Strike notice for anyone who continues to add plastic bags to their recycling bin contents,” Rob Green council’s waste and water services manager said.

Rob says during the grace period there has been a significant drop in the number of plastic bags added to recycling bins.

“There has been a reduction of between 60 and 70 percent which is fantastic. This tells us that residents are taking notice. It also means the working conditions for staff are much nicer as they no longer have to handle bags that contain unpleasant items.”

“Until now we’ve had a grace period, however now collectors will be actively checking recycling.” Rob said.

“Those who continue to place plastic bags in their recycling bin will from now on receive a strike notice. Council reserves the right to remove recycling bins after the third strike. This includes shopping bags, bread bags, plastic cling wrap, bubble wrap, frozen vegetable and cereal bags.”

“Looking forward we are exploring several options for recycling plastic bags however; it is unlikely that plastic bags will ever be included in the recycling bins again. It is possible that we might have drop off points at the city’s recycling centres at some stage in the future,” Rob said.

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