Pizza boxes addressed through waste review

The current review of Hamilton city’s kerbside rubbish collection and recycling services, underway in 2015/16, identifies options which will address the issue of pizza boxes.

The Council’s existing collection service does not provide for sorting of clean and dirty pizza boxes at kerbside, which means to avoid risk of the paper and card being contaminated by food waste, pizza boxes are not collected for recycling. Instead, they should be folded and placed in the black rubbish bags for collection.

However, over time, there has been some inconsistency with collection, with pizza boxes collected in some areas. This has led to many residents thinking that pizza boxes can be recycled through the Council’s kerbside collection.

Recently, in line with advice from its recyclers, the Council sought consistency of collection from rubbish contractors to reduce the risk of waste food contaminating the paper and card recycling collection. As a result, people who have previously had their used pizza boxes collected have now found they are being left behind.

The Council’s City Waters Unit Manager Andrew Parsons says the Council has received a number of calls from people asking for clarification around the collection.


Photo courtesy of Hamilton City Council

“There’s a bit of confusion around why we aren’t taking pizza boxes in our recycling, but the first thing we have to make clear is that we haven’t had a change in policy. We have never had provision for kerbside sorting of paper and card products, and our recyclers advise we need to have clean product,” Mr Parsons says.

“From our own surveys, we know some pizza boxes are relatively clean, but we also know a large number have significant food waste in them. If food contaminates an entire batch of paper and card there is a risk that this makes all of it unsuitable for recycling, and then the entire batch could go into landfill, which is something we want to avoid.

“Unfortunately, at this time, pizza boxes can only be collected as part of the rubbish collection in black bags,” Mr Parsons says.

Mr Parsons says the Council is working with contractors to see whether changes in process or new equipment may allow pizza boxes to be collected for recycling in the future.

There is currently a Waste Working Party review of the entire Hamilton City kerbside collection service. Proposals around what may be collected, and how it will be collected, will be presented to Council in the next couple of months.