RECYCLING IN PUBLIC PLACES INITIATIVE

The Recycling in Public Places Initiative is a partnership between central and local government to establish a network of easily recognisable recycling bins in high foot-traffic and key tourist locations across New Zealand.

With 600 bins in place by 2010, the initiative is the start of a solution to provide New Zealanders and overseas visitors with the option to recycle while they are out and about. It also aims to support recycling facilities that organisations have already established for their customers and encourage more businesses to set up their own facilities or contribute to the network in their regions.

The Recycling in Public Places Initiative is part of the government’s commitment to make New Zealand a sustainable nation.

Objectives
Help New Zealanders make sustainable choices by providing facilities to recycle away from home
Enhance international visitor perceptions of a ‘clean, green New Zealand’ though a visible, easily identifiable, network of public recycling facilities
Raise awareness of recycling in public and encourage appropriate use of the bins.
Branding
The bins will all feature the Love NZ - Recycle with care brand to make them easily recognisable as recycling bins and to encourage recycling while New Zealanders and overseas visitors are out and about.

Marketing the brand through a promotional campaign is part of the initiative and occurs in areas where the Recycling in Public Places bins are being set up.

Why focus on recycling in public places?
Establishing a network of recycling bins across New Zealand in public places will:

engage the public on waste issues and raise the profile of recycling
assist in capturing the economic benefits of minimising waste – including through the creation of new markets and new products from recovered materials, and the development of infrastructure to support recycling
encourage innovative solutions to waste disposal problems
assist councils in their waste management performance
extend the recovery of recyclables from domestic kerbside to public places
enable businesses to contribute their expertise and take responsibility for the environmental and disposal problems of manufactured products.
How does it work?
The Ministry for the Environment will partner with councils (and partnerships of multiple local authorities) to purchase and install around 200 bins annually for three years (ending June 2010). The Ministry will contribute to the servicing of the bins until 2010 once the bins are installed.
The bins will collect a range of common packaging materials including 1 and 2 plastics, glass and cans for recycling, depending on councils’ operational requirements.
The bins will be recognisable through the Love NZ - Recycle with care brand and supported with a locally delivered public awareness campaign.
After June 2010 individual councils will be responsible for the long term operational and maintenance of the bins in their area.
Councils are encouraged to work with local businesses and develop partnerships to install and operate bins in high usage, privately-owned places such as shopping malls, airports and service stations.
The deliverables of the initiative (recycling facilities, branding, marketing campaign materials) have the potential to benefit recycling at major events.
Who is eligible for government funding?
Local councils and partnerships headed by local councils.

How is funding allocated?
Councils can apply for funding through an annual funding round. See the section on key dates below for more details.
The application process sets out the criteria by which the applications will be assessed for funding.
The initiative aims to fund the purchase and installation of 210 bins in 2008/2009 and 220 bins in 2009/2010.
The focus for the project will be large metropolitan areas, high foot traffic areas and high tourist throughput areas.
Key dates for 2008/09 applications
Applications will open for the 2008/2009 year on 28 April and close at 4pm on 13 June. Councils will be notified by 14 July of their application’s success.

Application guidelines
Read application guidelines online
Download as PDF for printing (PDF 154 KB)
Application form
Download the application form in Word format (436 KB)
Download the application form as PDF for printing (PDF 67 KB)
The pilot programme
The first year of the Recycling in Public Places Initiative has been to pilot the process of setting up the recycling infrastructure, creating the Love NZ – Recycle with care brand for the bins, establishing the evaluation programme and setting up the reporting mechanisms.

Evaluation process
The evaluation process for the Recycling in Public Places Initiative is fundamental to the successful delivery of this project. Evaluation for this initiative will encompass both strategic and operational monitoring. This is necessary to evaluate the success of the initiative and to determine the integrity of the project.

The evaluation programme will be a combination of three different data collections:

1. Quantitative bin auditing of the pilot council bins
This aims to establish:

the quantity of material being put into the Love NZ - Recycle with care bins,
the composition of the material being put in the bins.
To maintain data integrity, standardisation of the methods of data collection for the bin auditing across the different regions is vital.

The Ministry for the Environment is funding a bin auditing programme for the four pilot councils. This programme will be run by Waste Not Consulting who will work with the pilot councils and collection/recycling operators to set up and deliver monthly audits of the materials recovered from the Love NZ - Recycle with care bins in the first 12 months of their operation (from May 2008 to May 2009).

2. Monthly operational information from all councils
This aims to establish:

the total number of bins in operation
the trends for the ongoing servicing of the bins
seasonal variation in servicing requirements in different areas.
All participating councils will keep ongoing monthly operational reports on the Love NZ – Recycle with care bins as part of the programme. This will provide information on seasonal variations in servicing requirements.

3. Qualitative public surveying in the areas where bins are located.
This aims to establish:

the public’s reception to the bins
how people have learned about the bins
the public’s understanding of what the bins are for
special requirements for the public awareness campaigns.
The Ministry for the Environment aims to fund two public surveys for the evaluation programme that will cover the population of regions that contain bins in the summer of 2008/2009 and 2009/2010.

More information
If you:

represent a local council, you can read the application guidelines on how to applying to join the initiative.
represent a business who would like to be involved in recycling – you can read the application guidelines and contact your local council, or a local council that you may want to partner with.
represent an organisation that already has recycling facilities, but would like to use the Love NZ – Recycle with care brand for your bins please contact the Ministry for the Environment.