Nationwide waste management rejig begins next month

From next month, the items allowed in your recycling bin will move to a national standard in a bid to reduce waste and clear up confusion.

Currently, items which are accepted in your kerbside recycling bin is dependent on where you live.

Auckland Council waste solutions general manager Parul Sood says there's a range of items found in recycling bins which don't belong there.

"One is bagged rubbish – also bagged recyclables are not a good idea," she said.

"We do get clothes as well, so no clothing. Also nappies – nappies do not go into your recycling bins."

All of Auckland's kerbside recycling is sent to a facility in Onehunga to be sorted and processed.

The range of items accepted at the plant changed late last year.

Previously, the recycling centre took in "a lot more material", including liquid paper board and aerosol cans.

"Those things are not going in your recycling bins anymore," Sood said.

From February, it will be the same for bins across the country.

On the new list of recyclables is glass bottles and jars; paper and cardboard; aluminum or steel tins and cans; and plastic bottles, trays and containers labelled with a 1, 2 or 5.

Zero Waste policy expert Hannah Blumhardt said plastics labelled type 3, 4, 6 and 7 are "not easily recycled".

"[They're] mostly being shipped offshore, if they're being recycled at all, and we don't have very good oversight over what happens to that," she said.

It comes as our waste management system is streamlined, with the first stage beginning with recycling.

By 2027, kerbside recycling will be provided to households in all urban areas, while food scraps will be collected everywhere by 2030.

It's hoped the new national standard will help cut down on the 13 million tonnes of rubbish going to the landfill each year.

But knowing where it goes is key.

"If you have a large amount of contamination, it can mean that a whole recycling truck worth of recycling has to be landfiilled," Blumhardt explained.

Sood said having the "same communication across the country" and ensuring people are aware which items can be recycled will see "better product coming out of the recycling bins that can go to market".