Taranaki Milk Top Challenge

This Challenge encourages households to collect their milk bottle tops so they can be recycled and kept out of landfill.

Selected schools and kura across Taranaki (South Taranaki, Stratford and New Plymouth District Councils) are participating in this Challenge.

Throughout Term 2, students and their whānau will be asked to separate and collect milk bottle tops at home and bring them into their school. 

Removing lids from bottles and containers became a requirement for all kerbside collections across Aotearoa in February 2024.

Leaving tops or lids on bottles or containers and putting in them in the recycling bin, means the whole bottle or container or even the whole bin can end up in landfill.

This is because people at the recycling centre can't be sure if they're empty or clean and it's a health and safety risk to open them up.

Lids and tops are also often too small to go through the recycling reprocessing equipment and can become stuck, damaging the machines.

Milk tops are a special kind of plastic that are already being collected and recycled in Taranaki at The Junction Zero Waste Hub in New Plymouth and Egmont Refuse and Recycling in Hāwera.

YES please for:

• Standard size tops found on 1, 2 or 3 litre milk bottles
• All coloured tops from dairy milk, cream bottles and other bottles like Primo, Mammoth etc.
• Boring Oat, Little Island Milk and other alternative milk options that come in bottles

NO thanks to:

• Boxed/ Tetra Pak Milk tops (e.g. So Good, Vitasoy)
• Juice tops
• Soft drink bottle tops

We've selected schools in particular suburbs to see what kind of impact the challenge has on reducing contamination in recycling bins caused by tops.

If this trial is successful, it may be expanded to other areas of Ngāmotu in future.

Want to find out more about the results of the trial? Or, if your school or kura would be interested to participate in any future Challenge, email sustainabilityed@npdc.govt.nz

Yes please!

Milk residue get's a bit stinky, so please take the time to rinse and dry your tops before placing them in your collection bin.