Half of Porirua’s kerbside recycling collected last year was ultimately buried, including most of the city’s glass, a new council report shows.
A 19 February agenda paper to Porirua City councillors reveals 6,500 tonnes of recycling were collected in 2024, including 1,300 tonnes of glass. About half of that material was sent to landfill.
Council officers state in the report that the current recycling system “does not work well”.
Under the existing wheelie bin model, glass and mixed recycling are collected on alternate weeks. However, contamination levels in some areas have regularly exceeded processor thresholds. When that happens, entire loads are rejected and diverted to landfill, with glass proving the biggest challenge.
Porirua uses a closed-bin system, meaning collectors cannot visually check for contamination before material is tipped into trucks. The glass is also broken during collection, preventing it from being sorted by colour.
The report says there is no viable market for glass collected in this way, leaving most of it suitable only for landfill use.
By comparison, Wellington and Hutt cities use open crates that allow residents to separate glass by colour at the kerb. That produces cleaner material that can be recycled.
Council officers are recommending Porirua shift to the same open-crate model. The change is estimated to cost an additional $850,000 a year.
Kerbside recycling currently costs about $2 million annually and is funded through rates.
The council’s user-pays rubbish bag service, used by about 18 percent of households, under-recovered costs by $150,000 last year. Officers say the bag price would need to rise from $4.50 to $5.50 to fully recover costs.
A previous Long-term Plan proposed moving to a fully rates-funded rubbish and recycling system from 2027 or 2028. That option was expected to result in about a 5 percent rates increase. Officers now advise that approach is not recommended, citing affordability pressures and the possibility of Government limits on council rate rises.
Councillors are being asked to approve further detailed planning on changing the glass collection method. Final decisions would be made through the upcoming Long-term Plan process.
If adopted, the change would align Porirua with neighbouring councils and enable more glass to be recycled rather than buried.