Does Rubbish Need to Be Bagged in Wellington's Council Wheelie Bins or can the rubbish just go straight into the bin?

Forums › Off topic › Does Rubbish Need to Be Bagged in Wellington's Council Wheelie Bins or can the rubbish just go straight into the bin?

NglButiLoveTechnolog

115 posts

Master Geek

#318997 11-Mar-2025 22:20

Hey guys, does anyone know if in Wellington, New Zealand, the Council requires residents to bag their rubbish before putting it in the wheelie bins (rubbish and recycling bin) for collection? Or can we put it in the bin without a bag?

1 | 2

3236 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#3352937 12-Mar-2025 06:53

For the sake of anyone who will ever walk past your bin, bag your kitchen rubbish. I do put other inert things in mine unbagged, but anything that might ever stink or stick to the bin gets bagged.

Dynamic

3866 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#3352939 12-Mar-2025 07:26

My neighbour does not bag his rubbish. His bin is a disturbing science experiment.

Those that know cross the street. Strangers to the area frequently go missing. I'm not saying the two are related, but I'm also not ruling this out.

“Don't believe anything you read on the net. Except this. Well, including this, I suppose.” Douglas Adams

Referral links to services I use, really like, and may be rewarded if you sign up:
PocketSmith for budgeting and personal finance management. A great Kiwi company.

coffeebaron

6231 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#3352944 12-Mar-2025 07:54

Bring back supermarket plastic bags!

Rural IT and Broadband support.

Broadband troubleshooting and master filter installs.
Starlink installer - one month free: https://www.starlink.com/?referral=RC-32845-88860-71
Wi-Fi and networking
Cel-Fi supply and installer - boost your mobile phone coverage legally

Need help in Auckland, Waikato or BoP? Click my email button, or email me direct: [my user name] at geekzonemail dot com

johno1234

2793 posts

Uber Geek

#3352947 12-Mar-2025 08:02

Yeah, manky stuff in bags. General non manky stuff can go in loose. Otherwise the whole bin becomes a smelly ecosystem and attracts flies

Bung

6477 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#3352951 12-Mar-2025 08:09

WCC only supplies wheelie bins for recycling leaving rubbish to private operators. For recycling they say "Place all recycling items loosely in your bin or bag so they can easily be collected or emptied." If you don't have or don't use the rubber clip on the bin lid this can mean your recycling gets blown down the street.

wellygary

8312 posts

Uber Geek

#3352967 12-Mar-2025 09:02

Bung:

WCC only supplies wheelie bins for recycling leaving rubbish to private operators. For recycling they say "Place all recycling items loosely in your bin or bag so they can easily be collected or emptied." If you don't have or don't use the rubber clip on the bin lid this can mean your recycling gets blown down the street.

This,

General Council collected Rubbish in Wellington must be in purchased Yellow rubbish bags,
Council Wheelie bins (Black with yellow lids) are for general recycling (Glass goes in the green crate)

Rubbish Wheelie bins are private operators, they will have their own rules,

Dynamic

3866 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#3353025 12-Mar-2025 09:30

coffeebaron:

Bring back supermarket plastic bags!

I bought a box of 2000 for about $40 shortly for my kitchen rubbish bin before they were outlawed. Currently 1/4 of the way through this box. Loads cheaper than buying rolls of kitchen rubbish bags.

“Don't believe anything you read on the net. Except this. Well, including this, I suppose.” Douglas Adams

Referral links to services I use, really like, and may be rewarded if you sign up:
PocketSmith for budgeting and personal finance management. A great Kiwi company.

Equinox IT

Cloud spending continues to surge globally, but most organisations haven’t made the changes necessary to maximise the value and cost-efficiency benefits of their cloud investments. Download the whitepaper From Overspend to Advantage now.

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
79250 posts

Uber Geek

Administrator

ID Verified

Trusted

Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#3353081 12-Mar-2025 10:28

As above. Wellington rubbish is in council yellow plastic bags. You can buy at supermarkets.

Recycle goes into wheelie bins (paper, plastic 1, 2 and 5) or green bin (glass).

Rubbish wheelie bins are private.

If you use a rubbish wheelie bin (private), please put in a bag. It will turn disgusting in no time if you don't.

coffeebaron:

Bring back supermarket plastic bags!

I understand people want to use less plastic. But I still think supermarkets are the ones that profited from ditching the plastic bags, as they sell rubbish bin plastic bags. We still use plastic bags but now we pay more for the privilege.

wellygary

8312 posts

Uber Geek

#3353086 12-Mar-2025 10:58

freitasm:

But I still think supermakerts are the ones that profited from ditching the plastic bags,

This Very Bigly....

Notice how supermarkets used to put the things you bought in a bag that they gave you for FREE...

Now if you want to take stuff from the store you need your own bags or a bag they SELL you....

For small shop loads I grab a couple of the paper fruit bags, and use those to pack small items in...

pdh

338 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3353151 12-Mar-2025 13:11

>But I still think supermakerts are the ones that profited from ditching the plastic bags,

I beg to differ...

I believe the fruit & veg paper bags cost more than the plastic - to source, to replenish and especially at checkout. Checkout personnel have to open and close each one - to identify the contents - and it's seriously exacerbated the whole problem of cheating at self-checkout. Without a clear plastic bag, it's very hard for a camera system to distinguish limes from spuds.

I lived through the transition from paper bags to plastic ones - back in the '50s - and I don't think supermarkets did it to waste money.

mattwnz

20141 posts

Uber Geek

#3353234 12-Mar-2025 15:37

I suspect the extra cost of paper bags is offset by the fact that they weigh more. So depending on what is in the bag being weighed, the supermarket makes a bit from that. Consumer should do some research into this

nitro

656 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3353257 12-Mar-2025 17:14

pdh:

I beg to differ...

I believe the fruit & veg paper bags cost more than the plastic - to source, to replenish and especially at checkout. Checkout personnel have to open and close each one - to identify the contents - and it's seriously exacerbated the whole problem of cheating at self-checkout. Without a clear plastic bag, it's very hard for a camera system to distinguish limes from spuds.

I lived through the transition from paper bags to plastic ones - back in the '50s - and I don't think supermarkets did it to waste money.

i think the previous posts were referring to the plastic bags at checkout that supermarkets no longer provide. this would have been 5 or 6 bags for each customer shopping for a family. this in turn was perfectly reusable as rubbish bin liners. now we pay for those checkout paper bags when we forget to bring the reusable bags, which we also have to buy. and i'm pretty sure they're making more money from selling plastic bin liners these days... if they even sold any before.

i understand the push for this change, but as an example new world was already providing biodegradable plastic bags at checkout before... and now that they aren't, we're having to buy biodegradable plastic bin liners.

SepticSceptic

2186 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#3353327 12-Mar-2025 22:38

wellygary:

freitasm:

But I still think supermakerts are the ones that profited from ditching the plastic bags,

This Very Bigly....

Notice how supermarkets used to put the things you bought in a bag that they gave you for FREE...

Now if you want to take stuff from the store you need your own bags or a bag they SELL you....

For small shop loads I grab a couple of the paper fruit bags, and use those to pack small items in...

I usually grab a trio of the thick-walled plastic bags from the live mussell counter... PaknSav .

Decent size , and won't randomly split open.

mattwnz

20141 posts

Uber Geek

#3353332 12-Mar-2025 23:12

^^^Supermarket tips and tricks

mattwnz

20141 posts

Uber Geek

#3353333 12-Mar-2025 23:14

I find that bin liners almost always leak as they are made from such a thin plastic. So always end up with bin juice, which isn’t something I noticed with reusing supermarket bags

1 | 2