Tauranga City Council is currently delivering around 53,000 glass collection crates across the city in preparation for the new rates-funded kerbside service that starts in October.

All residential properties in Tauranga will receive a blue crate by the end of this month, along with an information brochure – which is taped securely to the bottom of each crate – to explain how the fortnightly service works.

Environment Committee chair, Steve Morris, is excited about the new service as it will enable and encourage more people to recycle glass, reducing the amount that is unnecessarily put into landfill.

'When private collection companies stopped accepting glass for recycling at the kerbside in March this year, we were really concerned about the impact on the environment and our city.

'To fill the gap, we proposed a Council-led, rates-funded solution in the 2018-28 Long Term Plan, which was strongly supported by the community.

'I'm really pleased that we've been able to implement this service so quickly and that residents will soon have the convenience of recycling glass bottles and jars at the kerbside again.”

Tauranga is one of the last cities in New Zealand to move from privately-led to Council-led kerbside collections, and will provide a full kerbside service for rubbish, mixed recycling and organic (garden and/or food) waste in 2021.

Glass from Tauranga's interim collection service will be separated into brown, clear and green glass at the kerbside and then will be transported to Auckland for recycling.

Glass is infinitely recyclable and, when colour separated, achieves an almost 100 percent recycling rate.

Any residents who have not received a crate by the end of this month are encouraged to check with their neighbours before contacting Council.

All crates have the property address they are allocated to on the side. Extra crates can be ordered from Council for $26 per annum after 1 October.

Council has received a few reports of full collection crates already being put on the kerbside for collection.

'It's fantastic the people are so keen to use the new service, but they need to wait until October to put their crates out. And remember, the crate is for glass bottles and jars only. All the information is in the brochure, so I encourage everyone to read it.”