Inspectors will be out in Papakura, Manurewa and the Māngere-Ōtāhuhu areas next year checking recycling bins.
The city has a huge problem with contamination in recycling bins, which forces more waste to go to landfill, to the point that about one in four bins is affected.
Contamination ranges from what’s known as ‘wish-cycling’ - small amounts of unaccepted items people may think can be included, to gross contamination from households using their recycling bin for rubbish.
Auckland Council is running a zero-tolerance campaign aimed at highlighting the five items that cause most often contaminate kerbside recycling.
A project team continues to engage community partners to combat the problem in areas such as Papakura and Manurewa, with a goal of reducing contamination by 10 per cent.
Alongside that engagement, bin inspectors and enforcement teams will be added.
Inspectors will be auditing 600 bins in each trial area, red tagging households that have contaminated recycling.
The tags will inform residents which items should not be placed in bins. If households continue to contaminate bins, enforcement teams will remove them and issue clear bags for monitoring.
Community partners will focus on educating, using postcards to emphasise the importance of recycling, and through activities such as face-to-face interaction, workshops and social media.
The trial will continue through January and February and truck audits at the completion of the trial will help determine its success.
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