Do you recycle? How do you recycle? Do you think enough is being done in Tauranga to encourage people to recycle?

These were just a handful of the questions SunLive photographer Tracy Hardy asked locals while conducting a vox pop in and around the CBD on Friday afternoon.

Of the nine people who were stopped in the street and asked question, each one said they recycled, including Tauranga Mayor Greg Brownless, who composts all his food scraps on site at his home, and drops off plastics and newspapers to the recycling station every few months.

The issue of recycling hit the headlines this after results of a summer audit of Tauranga's rubbish showed residents were wasting their rubbish, with about 70 per cent of what's being thrown in the bin could be either recycled or composted.

The survey collected rubbish from bins as well as bags, with the results showing households using the bigger 240 litre wheelie bins are throwing out more recyclables than the bag and small bin users.

More audits are planned for winter and autumn to establish a baseline across all four seasons of the year. The study is government funded.

When asked if enough was being done to encourage Tauranga locals to recycle, Greg believes people need to make the decision to recycle themselves.

'Big Brother doesn't need to tell you to recycle, you should know to do it."

What are your thoughts about recycling? Post your comments below.