It’s Recycling Week in Aotearoa, so we thought we’d spotlight the role that recycling plays in a circular economy and share some helpful resources.
Not sure what a circular economy is? It’s an economy that designs out waste and pollution, keep products and materials in use, and regenerates natural systems. You can see a visualisation of a circular economy in our diagram below, which is our interpretation of the original butterfly diagram from the Ellen Macarthur Foundation.

In the journey toward a circular economy, recycling plays an important role in keeping materials in use. Technically, all non-biological/synthetic materials are recyclable, but whether or not they are actually recycled is a matter of economics; in short, is there money to be made by those doing the recycling?
Recycling progress has been made in Aotearoa with recent changes like the kerbside recycling standardisation (which you can read about here), the increase in community recycling hubs, and expanding specialised recycling offerings (like soft plastics), but we still have a long way to go towards zero waste and a true circular economy. It’s important to highlight that, while recycling is important, it’s still the last solution in a circular economy – we should always be looking to reduce our consumption first, and to share and repair what we already have.
Below is our Materials Hierarchy (our version of the Zero Waste Hierarchy), a framework that provides guidance on the order of preference for managing different materials and resources, minimising resource and energy usage and maximising the value of products and materials. As is evident, recycling should always be our last option behind refusing to create waste in the first place (e.g. avoiding buying disposable items); redesigning our products to create less waste; reducing our consumption; reusing and maintaining what we already have; and repairing, refurbishing, or remanufacturing what’s broken.

However, if we are going to recycle, we want to recycle right, ensuring we know what goes where, avoiding contamination by cleaning our recycling, and disposing of it correctly. To support you on your recycling journey, we’ve included an image from Ministry for the Environment of what is accepted in your kerbside recycling, as well as compiled a list of “specialist” recycling items, which you might not be aware of – these are items that can’t be disposed of into your kerbside collection but can be dropped off elsewhere for recycling.
Specialist recycling and their drop off locations/organisations:
- Tetra Pak (liquid paperboard packaging) cartons – Saveboard
- Soft plastics – Soft Plastics Recycling Scheme (Countdown, New World, etc)
- Batteries – Bunnings
- E-waste – Noel Leemings
- Lightbulbs – Mitre 10
- Metal and plastic ‘Caps and Lids’ – Foodstuffs (New Wold, PAK’nSAVE, etc)
- Aerosol cans – some resource recovery centres (e.g. Go Recycle in Auckland)
There’s also a wide range of specific brands or products who offer recycling schemes, either directly through the company or in partnership with Terracycle, such as Colgate oral care items, Robert Harris/NESCAFÉ/L’OR coffee capsules, or GLAD Food Storage.
Interested in levelling up recycling and waste minimisation at your place of work? We offer a range of relevant workshops, such as “Recycling Right” or “Circular Economy 101”, to help educate and engage your staff. We also offer bin audits, which provide you with specific data about what’s going into your bins, the level of contamination, and bespoke recommendations for how you can improve recycling rates and reduce your materials to landfill. Get in touch to learn more.
Written by Go Well Consulting Sustainability Consultant, Kate Lodge.