Don’t flip your lid, wheelie bin clips are on their way

Wellington City Council is currently distributing over 40,000 free clips to every household in the capital that currently has a recycling wheelie bin – helping to keep a lid on it.

This initiative is part of Council’s Long-term Plan 2018-28 commitments to protect and enhance Wellington’s natural environment.

Wellington residents with households which fit the criteria and currently have a recycling wheelie bin will receive one free wheelie bin clip each over the next few weeks.

It’s an early Christmas gift to the environment says Mayor Justin Lester.

“We’re proud to say that according to our records 98 percent of Wellington residents recycle. But sometimes all that effort literally goes down the drain when Wellington suffers an occasional gentle breeze and bins spill their contents.

“It is our duty to keep Wellington clean and to reduce waste. This wheelie bin clip will be a major contributor to keeping recycling in the bins, and out of nature’s way.”

The free wheelie bin clips will be delivered to letter boxes from Friday 23 November, with distribution expected to take up to six weeks.

Sustainability Portfolio Lead Councillor Iona Pannett says the wheelie bin clip is a step in the right direction.

“We need to accept there are many challenges we face in waste minimisation, and recycling addresses some of those issues – which is why it’s important to ensure everything that can be recycled, ends up where it’s supposed to go.

“Given the function of the clip, it was also important that it included a recycling component and could also be end-of-life recycled in New Zealand too. We included additional merit points for submissions fitting that criteria, and SafeWaste fit the bill.”

Wheelie Bin Clip returns to SafeWaste, or drop-offs at Wellington City Council’s Service Centre, will be recycled and reprocessed into new clips.

The bin clips are contained in recyclable packaging with installation information on the back. There is also a video online at wellington.govt.nz/wheeliebinclip.

If a resident can’t attach the clip themselves, they can contact 04 499 4444 and we’ll send one of our friendly team to help them install it.

The process to provide Wellingtonians with a recycling wheelie bin clip started in 2015. As there weren’t many options on the market, and we were unable to find an existing product that met all our needs, we started working on our own design.

Since then a number of solutions came on to the commercial market, so we were able to start the tender process.

ENDS

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