Rubbish and recycling collected from Christmas Day and New Year's Day won’t have to sit in Hamiltonians’ bins too long, with kerbside collections being just one day later.

Collections will be Tuesday 26 December to Saturday 30 December, and then Tuesday 2 January to Saturday 6 January. Collections will resume as normal from Monday 8 January 2024.

From Christmas Day and New Years Day, if your usual kerbside collection day is Monday, you should put your bins out on Tuesday by 7am, and so on throughout both weeks.

“This ensures between Christmas and the new year, kerbside contractors are still getting two consecutive days off and are able to enjoy the special time with their families,” said Hamilton City Council Sustainable Resource Recovery Service Delivery Manager Trent Fowles.

Fowles said Hamiltonians can support the kerbside collections team, as well as the team who sort through Hamilton’s recycling by hand, by recycling right. At this time of year, a simple way to do this is to understand what wrapping is recyclable and what isn’t.

“New Zealanders use 10,000 trees worth of wrapping paper at Christmas. That’s over one million kg of paper. The most common unrecyclable wrapping paper is shiny and can't go into soft plastic recycling," said Fowles.

“The best way to know which wrapping is recyclable or not is to do the scrunch test. If the wrapping springs back when you release your hand, it’s not recyclable. If it stays scrunched it is.”

Fowles also said not to recycle small ‘bits’ of wrapping paper.

“If the wrap is ripped, in bits smaller than your palm, or has sticky tape on it, just put it into the red lidded kerbside rubbish bin as it becomes too small to get recycled.”

An even better option to reduce rubbish altogether and get creative with Christmas wrapping is using newspaper, boxes and pamphlets.

“Adding a bit of twine and a sprig of rosemary or lavender adds a bit of flair to a Christmas present. You could also use a jar filled with lollies, cookies or brownie – yum,” said Fowles.

For more information about what items go into which bins, visit fightthelandfill.co.nz

If you have excess waste, green waste, recycling or items to donate, these are the operating times for the following facilities:

Lincoln Street Resource Recovery Centre

25 December: closed

26 December: 9am – 4pm

1 January: closed

2 January: 9am – 4pm

From 3 January: normal hours resume

Hamilton Organic Centre – Wickham Street

25 December: closed

27 – 31 December: 8am – 5pm

1 January: closed

From 2 January: 9am – 5pm

Lincoln Street Habitat for Humanity ReUse Store

24 – 27 December: closed

28 – 30 December: 8am – 4pm

31 December – 1 January: closed

2 January onwards: 8am – 4pm

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