Got items you no longer need or want? Check our guide for suggestions on what you can do with items to recycle, upcycle or pass on those unwanted or disused items.
Rethink waste education centre
Tairāwhiti Environment Centre, 386 Palmerston Road Hours: Tuesday - Friday 9am - 3pm Ph (06) 867 4708
You can buy Bokashi Zing from the environment centre.
Free recycling drop off for these items at the centre:
eWaste - see list below
Batteries - any household, hearing aids, tool batteries
Garnier brand - skincare, plastic packaging, tubes and caps
Colgate brand - plastic toothbrushes, toothpaste
Shaving razors - Gillette or any brand, blades, packaging both disposal and non disposable
Tetra pak - see list below
Aluminium - wine bottle caps and foil
Coffee pods - Nescafe, Nespresso , Moccona l'Or
Fluorescent light bulbs - not LED
Soft plastics
Mobile phones
Toner and ink cartridges
Metal bottle caps
A-Z of items to recycle, reuse, upcycle, repurpose
A-D
- Refuse transfer stations accept metal appliances
- Whiteware - M E Jukes, 180 Stanley Road - small charge
- Whiteware - Metalco Recyclers 22 Banks Street
When you purchase a new appliance, ask the retailer to take your old appliance
Household batteries
- Tairāwhiti Environment Centre, free recycling drop off - any household batteries including hearing aid and tool batteries.
Vehicle battery
- Gisborne Autoelectrics, 159 Carnarvon Street
- Metalco Recyclers 22 Banks Street
- Bensons Auto Electrical, 160 Kahutia Street
- Hospital, doctors waiting rooms, charitable organisations
- Kindergartens, childcare facilities and Kohanga Reo
- Kerbside recycling collection
- Recycling drop off at Waste Management NZ Ltd, 75 Innes Street
- M E Jukes, Stanley Road - small charge
- Trading Post Recyclers, 71 Awapuni Road
- Neil Andrew Timber Recycling, 86 Bloomfield Rd - visit website
- Kerbside recycling collection - steel and aluminum cans
- Waste Management NZ Ltd recycling depot 75 Innes Street
- Schools and church groups may collect aluminum cans or can tabs as fundraisers
- Metalco Recyclers 22 Banks Street
- Metalco Recyclers 22 Banks Street - no charge
- Gisborne Towing Services 71 Awapuni Road - no charge
Mobile phone recycling scheme, Tairawhiti Environment Centre 386 Palmerston Road.
Recycle your old mobile phone and raise funds for Sustainable Coastlines.
The proceeds from the mobile phone recycling scheme helps towards the long-term vision of beautiful beaches and healthy waters.
Regardless of condition, make or model all mobile phones are accepted by the Mobile Phone Recycling Scheme. Phones received are graded, data wiped and sim card removed and destroyed. Drop of in store at:
- Spark, Customhouse Street
- Vodafone, 2 Peel Street
- 2degrees, 201 Gladstone Road
- Farm chemicals - Agrecovery Rural Recycling Programme
- Others - contact us for advice
- Friends and family (second-time around, clothes swaps, dress up for children)
- Kindergartens, childcare facilities and Kohanga Reo
- Charitable organisations
- Flea market or garage sale
- Advertise - Eastland Trader, Gisborne Herald, TradeMe, Facebook
Free recycling at Tairawhiti Environment Centre.
- laptops, desk top computers, tablets, notebooks, palmtops, computer monitors, printers, scanners and multifunction devices, computer accessories - mice, modems, keyboards, USBs, modems, cables, toners and ink cartridges.
If you buy a new computer, ask the retailer if they will take your old one.
- M E Jukes, Stanley Road - small charge
- Plastic agrichemical containers - Agrecovery Rural Recycling Programme
- Charity outlets
- Red Cross, 336 Palmerston Rd
E-L
personal and laptop computers and cables, tablets, notebooks, palmtops, computer monitors, printers, scanners and multi-function devices, internal hard drives and CD drives, computer accessories - mice, modems, keyboards, USBs, web cameras, modems, cables, toners and ink cartridges, cameras and video cameras.
- Free recycling at Tairawhiti Environment Centre
- Noel Leemings - drop it off to the store's customer service desk
- If you buy a new computer, ask the retailer if they'll take your old one.
- eCycle.co.nz
- Contact Waste Management NZ Ltd
Contact us for free recycling bins and flags
- Chemical containers at AgRecovery, visit Agrecovery's website
- For chemical disposal contact Agrecovery ph: 0800 247 326
- Bale wrap - Plasback
- Waste Management NZ Ltd, 75 Innes Street
- Dive & Gas 377 Childers Rd, ph 867 9662 - LPG refill
- Bunnings - exchange gas bottle for a filled one
- Kerbside recycling collection
- Waste Management NZ Ltd, 75 Innes Street
- Kindergartens, childcare facilities and kohanga reo
- Useful for jams/pickles etc, advertise via Eastland Trader, Facebook
- Tree pruning can be put aside for kindling or firewood
- Hire a shredder or use a contractor (see tree services in the yellow pages)
- Employ a green waste contractor (see lawn mowing services in the yellow pages)
- Judds, 164 McDonalds Rd - make and sell compost
- Waste Management NZ Ltd, 75 Innes Street
- Secondhand Sunday - first Sunday of each month except January, register with us
- Charitable organisations or church groups
- Advertise Gisborne Herald, Facebook
- Secondhand dealers
- Charitable organisations, church groups
- Kindergartens, childcare centres, schools and kohanga reo
- Rest homes
- Fluorescent bulbs - Tairawhiti Environment Centre, 386 Palmerston Rd, safely recycled by Interwaste
- Mitre10
M-O
Metal recyclers take most items that are predominantly metal.
- Metalco Recyclers Ltd, 22 Banks Street, visit website
- M E Jukes, Stanley Road
Mobile phone recycling scheme, Tairawhiti Environment Centre 386 Palmerston Road.
Recycle your old mobile phone and raise funds for Sustainable Coastlines.
The proceeds from the mobile phone recycling scheme helps towards the long-term vision of beautiful beaches and healthy waters.
Regardless of condition, make or model all mobile phones are accepted by the Mobile Phone Recycling Scheme. Phones received are graded, data wiped and sim card removed and destroyed. Drop of in store at:
- Spark, Customhouse Street
- Vodafone, 2 Peel Street
- 2degrees, 201 Gladstone Road
Hauroa Tairawhiti has a system for collecting needles and syringes.
Safe sharps disposal bins are located at pharmacies.
- City transfer station, Innes Street - engine waste oil
- Fat, oil, grease from food - visit Direct Fats & Oils
Resene Colourshop accepts unwanted paint and paint packaging.
- Visit their website for PaintWise info and shop hours, 291 Palmerston Road
P-S
- Kerbside recycling collection
- 24/7 recycling drop off at Waste Management NZ Ltd, 75 Innes Street
- Kindergartens, childcare facilities and kohanga reo
see cellphones
- Business Applications 150 Grey Street (Brother and Ricoh cartridges and toners)
- Office Products, 62 Peel Street
Clean soft plastics can be recycled only in the bins at various locations, not in your kerbside recycling bin:
- Bread bags
- Produce and frozen food bags
- Wrappers for cereals, snack food, dairy products, confectionery
- Lightly foiled bags like chip packets
- Courier pack bags and bubble wrap
- Garden potting mix bags
- Dry pet food bags
For more information check recycling.kiwi.nz
The soft plastic must be clean, dry and empty - the recycling bins are located at:
- Countdown
- The Warehouse
- Pak'nSave
- Tairāwhiti Environment Centre
- Four Squares at Tokomaru Bay, Ruatoria, Te Araroa
Kerbside recycling collection only takes plastic grades 1, 2 and 5.
This is milk, drink and detergent bottles, ice cream containers, yoghurt pots and deli containers - wash and remove the lids from bottles as they're not recyclable.
- Waste Management NZ Ltd recycling drop off, Innes Street
- Waste Management NZ Ltd do a commercial collection of recyclables, including shrink-wrap
- Kindergartens, childcare centres, kohanga reo
- Rest homes take clean ice-cream containers
Kerbside recycling weekly collection
24/7 drop off at city transfer station, Innes Street
Rural transfer stations
T-Z
- M E Jukes, 180 Stanley Road
Drop them into any optician, they're used in developing countries.
- Trading Post Recyclers, 71 Awapuni Road
- Neil Andrew Timber Recycling, 88 Bloomfield Rd - visit website
When you purchase a new TV, ask the retailer to take your old one
Milk, juice, soup and stock cartons
TetraPak cartons must be cut flat, rinsed clean and dry.
The tetraPak is sent to Hamilton where it's upcycled to building material.
- Drop them off to Tairawhiti environment centre - no charge
- Don't put them in your kerbside recycling bin
When you purchase a new appliance, ask the retailer to take your old appliance.
- M E Jukes, 180 Stanley Road - a small charge applies
- Metalco Recyclers 22 Banks Street