The Buller district is divided into three zones for recycling and refuse. Zone One covers Westport, the areas from Westport to the Mokihinui Bridge, Westport to Punakaiki, Westport to Reefton including Blacks Point, and Reefton to Ikamatua.
Zone Two is the Karamea area, from north of the Mokihinui Bridge.
Zone Three is beyond Blacks Point including Springs Junction and Maruia.
Zone One is a contracted approach, carried out by Smart Environmental Limited, which operates as follows:
To contact Smart Environmental Limited, please phone 03 789 6427 or visit their website www.smartenvironmental.co.nz.
The wheelie bin is for the majority of your recycling. All eligible items go straight into the bin, we no longer need you to separate items and put them in plastic shopping bags. These shopping bags are not eligible for recycling, and need to be disposed of as refuse. Please see our What can be recycled guide (1.15 Mb) for the full list of what can and can not be recycled.
The Buller District Council converted the information in our What can be recycled guide into fun infographics for residents. These infographic are great resources to display at home, teach kids or use as a fun reminder. These can be accessed below as a pdf.
Be a local Hero #2 (544 Kb)
Be a local Hero #1 (454 Kb)
How to be a yellow bin expert ( 263 Kb)
The best way to improve our recycling system is following the three “R” model reduce, reuse, and recycle.
Your wheelie bin has a label on the side like the image below. This label has your address on it, a bin number – as all bins are registered to the address not the people, and the day & week of your collection. Therefore as per the label example below, this person’s refuse collection day would be every Tuesday, and their recycling would be collected on Tuesdays that are week 1. All bins received an information pack that included a recycling calendar, this is what you use to establish when to put your recycling out for collection. So if you are Tuesdays and recycling is on week 1 then you put your recycling bins out on Tuesday 2 February 2021. The next time you put your bin out for collection is then Tuesday 23 February 2021, and so on in a fortnightly pattern.
*Please note that both sides of Brougham Street in Westport are now collected on Mondays. Recycling collection in the week 1 and week 2 pattern remains the same.
If you need a recycling calendar, please click below or you can collect from Council Offices in Westport or Reefton.
| Westport Hours: | Reefton Hours: | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Days | Times | Days | Times |
| Monday, Wednesday, Friday | 9.00 am-4.00 pm | Tuesday & Thursday | 1.00pm - 4.00pm |
| Tuesday and Thursday | CLOSED | ||
| Saturday | 9.00 am - 4.00 pm | Saturday & Sunday | 1.00pm - 4.00pm |
| Sunday | 9.00 am - 1.00 pm | ||
| All Public Holidays | CLOSED | All Public Holidays | CLOSED |
We will also have notifications of changes to normal operating times on our website at the appropriate time.
Fees and Charges at the Transfer Stations effective from 1 July 2020
Price List as at 1 July 2020 – Westport (358Kb)
Price List as at 1 July 2020 – Reefton (356Kb)
Council refuse bags are $5.80.
