Recycle With Us

It’s great to recycle household waste in the kerbside bins provided by the council. But there are still many items that go to landfill every year that could be recycled elsewhere. We receive and process many of these things at two locations so start putting these items aside to bring in regularly. Join us in Auckland’s grand vision to be zero waste by 2040! Here’s what you can recycle with us, how and where.

When and where to drop off

Mondays and Tuesdays, 10am to 2pm (closed on public holidays)
EcoMatters Resource Recovery Depot: Unit I, 22 Moselle Ave, Henderson 0610
Easter Hours: Closed Monday 21st April.

Wednesdays to Sundays, 10am to 2pm (closed on public holidays)
EcoMatters Store: 1 Olympic Place, New Lynn, Auckland.
Easter and ANZAC Hours: Closed from 2pm Thursday 17th and open again from 10am Wednesday 23rd April for Easter. Closed Friday 25th April for ANZAC Day.

What we accept so landfill doesn’t have to:

Free to drop off at either our store or depot

Caps and lids

Metal and plastic lids must be separated, clean and dry before drop off.

We’re a drop off point for the Caps and Lids Recycling Scheme. Bring us your clean and dry flip-top/hinged caps, screw caps, every type of container lid, crown caps, jar lids, ring pull caps, wire from sparkling drinks, metal screw top caps, aluminium lids, wine lids and food tin lids.

Please make sure your metal and plastic lids are separated so they can be put into the appropriate boxes for recycling. We don’t accept coffee cup lids, coffee pods, glass, triggers, pumps, bread tags or any dirty lids.

Metal lids are sent to New Zealand-based metal recyclers, while plastic lids are processed and sent to Australia to be turned into things like wheelie bins, flower pots and more.

More about what metal lids are accepted.
More about what plastic lids are accepted.

CURTAINS

We collect clean second-hand curtains, which are given to families in need via Habitat for Humani ty. We’re thrilled to work with this fabulous organisation and they’re incredibly grateful for all your contributions, especially lined curtains, which really help to keep people warmer and healthier. Sorry, no blinds, rails or mouldy curtains, thank you.

DISPOSABLE RAZORS AND STAINLESS STEEL BLADES

A wide range of shaving equipment can be dropped off with us as part of Terracycle’s Gillette Razor Recycling Programme. This includes: all brands of disposable blades and razors (systems, disposable units, and replaceable-blade cartridge units), rigid plastic packaging, and flexible plastic bag packaging. We also accept stainless razor blades used in safety razors. New safety razors and refill blades can be purchased at our EcoMatters Store.

ECOSTORE BOTTLES

EcoMatters is an official collection point for the ecostore Plastic Return Programme. We accept all empty ecostore containers for Aotearoa-based recycling, including the 5L and 20L containers.

INFLATABLE POOL TOYS

Has your inflatable pool toy had its day in the sun? If it is glitter-free, clean and mould-free, we encourage you to drop it off to us. These toys are then collected by I Used To Be, a fabulous and innovative initiative that repurposes inflatable pool toys into bright and fun water resistant bags and accessories.

COLGATE TOOTHPASTE TUBES AND TOOTHBRUSHES

Only Colgate-branded toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes, toothpaste caps, floss containers and their plastic outer packaging materials can be brought to us now. We encourage you to collect them up and bring them in when you have a small box full. We send them to Terracycle’s Colgate Oral Care Recycling Programme. When you recycle these items with us, we also earn Terracycle points which are converted to donations for our charity.

solid toothpaste JARS AND BOTTLES

We’re an official jar return location for Solid toothpaste. Bring your clean, empty and delabelled Solid toothpaste jars and bottles in to us. They’ll be sent back to Solid to be sterilised and re-used. Ask us for a jar return card – once you’ve returned 12 jars in total, you’ll get a free toothpaste to say thank you.

SILICONE

We can take your food grade silicone products for the Silicone Send Back project. This is ideal for items that are damaged or no longer usable. To find out more about the recycling program and what items are accepted check out the FAQ’s here.

Mobile phones

Have an old phone lying around? EcoMatters is an official collection point for the RE:MOBILE recycling program. Drop off your unwanted phones for recycling, even if the screen is broken or it no longer turns on. For every phone recycled with RE:MOBILE, money is donated to Sustainable Coastlines, an award-winning charity working hard to look after the waterways and coastlines we love. See here for how to remove your personal data before dropping off your phone.

Items with a processing charge

E-WASTE

We provide a drop-off point for recycling electronic goods and certain household appliances. Processing charges apply for recycling e-waste due to the specialised recycling processes. Find out more at our dedicated E-waste page.

LIGHT BULBS

We can take your household Fluorescent or LED light bulbs (no long fluro tubes or broken bulbs) to be recycled with Interwaste. Up to 100% of the light bulb is able to be broken down and recycled into other products. There is a charge of $2 per bulb for this service, as recycling lightbulbs has a specialised recycling processes.

OTHER RECYCLING OPTIONS

Got something else you’d like to dispose of sustainably that’s not listed here?

Check Auckland Council’s guide to getting rid of unwanted items here.

Kerbside Recycling Advice

Test your recycling knowledge with the online Recycle Right quiz. Are you a recycling legend?

Find the Binny app in your app store to check what you can recycle in your kerbside recycling.

Visit Waste Nothing to learn more about Auckland Council’s journey towards its aspirational goal of zero waste by 2040.