Anyone dropping-off recyclable waste at the Whakatāne District Council's Whakatāne or Murupara transfer stations will now be required to sort and place items in the appropriate receptacles.

Council Solid Waste Manager Nigel Clarke says that to be able to maintain a free drop-off facility for recycling, items would need to be separated by category.

'At the Whakatāne transfer station, there are separate receptacles for cardboard, paper, green glass, brown glass, clear glass, plastics (1-7) and tins and cans,” he explains.

'To make the free drop-off service achievable, we need people to sort their recyclables and put them into the right receptacles, ready for sending on to the end-user.”

He says glass recycling dropped-off at the Murupara transfer station will need to be separated according to glass colour, and there will also be a separate receptacle for cardboard.

'As from this week, public or business drop-offs of unsorted mixed recycling will no longer be accepted at the Whakatāne transfer station, so we would ask people using this free service to take a little extra time and put their recyclable waste into the appropriate, clearly marked container.”