The Sorting Depot is a commercial waste sorting facility on Colson Road in New Plymouth.
This facility sorts reusable and recyclable materials from mixed skips of dry waste, particularly skips from building sites, demolition, strip-outs, and office clear-outs. By providing a sorting service and developing new markets for reuse and recycling, we will keep thousands of kilograms of valuable materials out of the landfill each year.
Importantly for businesses, it is cheaper for them to bring skips to the commercial waste sorting facility than to the landfill.
If you are a business and would like to sign up for an account – Fill out The Sorting Depot Account Application Form and sign the Ts&Cs document and return both to TheSortingDepot@npdc.govt.nz.
Mon 16 Dec
8:00am – 4:30pm
Tue 17 Dec
8:00am – 4:30pm
Wed 18 Dec
8:00am – 4:30pm
Thu 19 Dec
8:00am – 4:30pm
Fri 20 Dec
8:00am – 4:30pm
Sat 21 Dec
Closed
Sun 22 Dec
Closed
It is located at 31 Colson Road in New Plymouth, on the old site of the New Plymouth Transfer Station. (The transfer station has moved to a new location further along Colson Road.)
It’s for waste transporters, skip companies, construction and demolition firms, manufacturers and businesses. Businesses will need an account to access the facility to dispose of waste. If you are a business and would like to sign up for an account, please get in touch with us at TheSortingDepot@npdc.govt.nz.
The facility is not be open for public drop-offs. For public drop-offs and home clear-outs, please go next door to The Junction and the New Plymouth Transfer Station.
The Sorting Depot accepts usable building materials and fixtures, as well as concrete and rubble, untreated timber, usable lengths of treated timber, and metals, cardboard, recyclable plastic and tyres. Over time, we also plan to develop markets and processing equipment for plasterboard/gib, soft plastics, polystyrene, and other materials.
Please see the table below for waste acceptance criteria and banned items.
Acceptable waste includes, but is not limited to, materials that:
Acceptable waste may contain variable proportions of recoverable materials and landfill waste. Loads that are assessed at the weighbridge as containing no recoverable materials may not be accepted.
The Sorting Depot may also accept loads that are comprised of a single recoverable material as defined in the table below. Note: this may be reviewed from time to time as new markets for recoverable materials are identified.
The presence of prohibited waste, i.e., material that does not meet the acceptable waste criteria noted above, in a load deposited at the site will result in the entire load being defined as prohibited waste. Any load containing prohibited waste will incur a non-compliant load fee.
Recoverable materials | Specification reference |
Batteries | Car, motorbike - not lithium. |
Cardboard | Dry, reasonably clean. |
Concrete, brick, rubble | Concrete for recycled aggregate. Largely free of dirt. Larger pieces and concrete that contains steel may incur penalty fees - concrete with steel must be separated. |
Metals | Where possible, separate into ferrous and non-ferrous metals. |
Untreated timber (for reuse) | Timber with nails accepted. Little or no paint. Clean and dry. |
Treated timber (for reuse) | Useable lengths only (50cm+), no paint. |
Treated timber (for recycling) | No litter, metal, nails or fixings. |
Building fixtures and other materials (for reuse) - detailed list to be provided |
Good condition. No damage. Full windows, doors accepted. |
Tyres | Tyres removed from rims. |
General recyclables (kerbside) - paper, card, tin, aluminium, plastic containers 1, 2 and 5, glass bottles and jars | No window glass, generally clean. |
Plaster board | Clean sheets, free from dirt, paint, wallpaper. Non-fibrous |
Polystyrene | Clean, uncompacted. From 6 January 2025, this will be accepted as a single stream only, so should not be included in mixed loads. |
PVC pipe | Up to 6m long. |
PE/HDPE pipe | Up to 4m long. |
Window glass | Criteria apply. |
Please see table below for fees and charges. Note: this is a commercial waste sorting facility for account customers only - no public access.
2023/24 (GST inclusive) | |
Mixed waste dry load (waste acceptance criteria will apply) |
$234.00 per tonne $70.20 minimum weigh charge |
Non-compliant load | $63.00 |
Single waste stream (Pre-sorted single waste streams listed within waste acceptance criteria that are not specifically itemised in fees and charges. NB: single stream of treated timber not accepted.) |
$78.75 per tonne |
Single waste stream - polystyrene | $220.00 + GST per m3. (This fee is subject to change.) |
Tyre - standard car tyre | $4.57 per tyre |
Tyre - 4x4 and ute | $6.25 per tyre |
Tyre - light truck | $14.18 per tyre |
Tyre - heavy truck | $22.58 per tyre |
Tyre - super single | $30.98 per tyre |
Tyre - off-road/tractor | $0.89 per kg |
Yes, if you’re a business and a customer of The Sorting Depot then you can bring pre-sorted loads of accepted materials in without them being sorted. We welcome this, and have provided a cheaper price to encourage pre-sorting where it’s possible.
Currently, 60 per cent, or about 45,000 tonnes, of the waste we send to the landfill is commercial and industrial waste.
There were limited options for the diversion of many commercial and industrial waste materials locally, meaning that disposal to landfill was often the cheapest and most convenient option for businesses. Conversations and surveys with construction companies and other businesses showed that the time and space to sort materials on their sites were also key barriers to them reducing waste.
Waste collectors also called for this facility in order to make local collection streams viable, establish local recycling markets and consolidate recyclable materials and landfill waste more cost effectively.
If you have friends or family who are builders, you can encourage them to use the facility for their building skips. Or if you’re carrying out a home build or renovation, ask your builder and waste contractor to take your skips to the facility so they can be sorted for reuse and recycling.
If you work in a business that is having a clear-out, fit-out, or building or office renovation done, you can also request that your waste collector drops materials to the commercial waste sorting facility instead of sending them to the landfill.
Please get in touch with us on TheSortingDepot@npdc.govt.nz.