Results of Consultation on Colours of Recycling and Rubbish bins
Thank you very much for making a submission on the colours of rubbish and recycling bins. In total
65 submissions were received either from individuals or organisations, which was a very high level of
engagement
After reviewing the submissions the following colours have been adopted for the bodies and lids of
rubbish and recycling bins.
1. For 240 litre and 120 litre wheelie bins, black or dark green should be used for the bin body.
2. Red lids should be used for rubbish
3. Yellow lids should be used for commingled recycling
4. Lime Green lids should be used for food waste and food waste /garden waste combined;
noting that food waste only collections are strongly encouraged to use a smaller bin size
than combined food and garden collections
5. Dark Green lids should be used for garden waste
However, no consensus was reached by either the consultation process, technical working group or
Behaviour Change steering committee for the colour for paper and the colour for commingled glass.

There was a strong majority view from the consultation that different waste streams should
have different colours 97% agreement.

There was also agreement that paper and glass would be better having separate colours
65%. This was endorsed by the technical working group and the Behaviour Change Steering
Committee.

As to whether blue or black was the preferred colour for glass, there was no consensus in
the consultation with the numbers almost evenly split.

It was noted that quite a few respondents objected to the colour black and its connotations
of rubbish.

It was discussed that if a different colour option instead of black had been offered, there
may have been a clearer consensus.

The working group and steering committee both agreed that colours such as pink and purple
would not be appropriate for bin lids and that the only other primary colour that could be
potentially used is grey.

Light grey is used in the Australian standard but only for metal cans. Some resource
recovery centres in New Zealand have skips for collecting scrap metal, but to the knowledge
of the working group and steering committee there are no bin collections for metal cans or
other metals. If you do know of anyone who offers a bin collection for metal cans, please
email jenny@wasteminz.org.nz.

Grey is the colour for paper on the RONZ symbols. So one solution would be to use the
colour grey for paper and continue to use the colour PMS 299 blue for multi coloured glass.

Full Circle, who is a major collector of paper, currently has green bins, but has indicated they
would be willing to use the RONZ grey colour on their labelling.

Paper Reclaim uses green 120 litre or 240 litre bins or yellow 660 litre bins with dark grey
bins used for document destruction.

Fonterra has sponsored the roll out of grey crates for collecting paper in schools through
EERST. The bins are made from their light proof
milk bottles.

However, particularly in Auckland and
Christchurch it was noted that many
organisations have rolled out blue internal bins
for collecting paper.
Overseas

In Australia blue is used for paper and yellow is used for commingled glass and commingled
recycling (paper, plastics and glass combined)

In the UK blue is used for paper and aqua is used for glass.

In the United States blue is used for commingled recycling and paper only / cardboard only
and orange is used for glass

The steering committee has advised that the colour options for paper and glass should go
back out for consultation.
If you are aware of any other information, which should be taken into account to enable
WasteMINZ members to make an informed decision on the recommended colours for paper
and commingled glass, can you please email jenny@wasteminz.org.nz by Wednesday 1st
April.