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Recycling Bin Colours in NZ: What They Mean | Hygiene Direct

Date: 22-10-2026
Blogs Environmental Sustainability

 

Walk into three workplaces and you might find three different colour schemes on the recycling bins. Colour coding helps people sort faster, but only if the colours mean the same thing everywhere. For a long time in New Zealand they did not.

How the agreed colours came about

The WasteMINZ guidance on standard bin colours explains that until October 2015, councils and businesses used a variety of colours to show what could be recycled in which bin. That caused confusion and made contamination more likely. In October 2015, WasteMINZ, the Glass Packaging Forum and councils around New Zealand agreed a standard set of colours for mobile recycling and rubbish bins, crates and internal office bins. In 2016 the New Zealand Recycling Symbols were updated to match. Companies wishing to run nationwide recycling schemes are strongly encouraged to use the colours on their bins and their signage.

The agreed colours

The same colours apply to lids on mobile bins and to crates and internal office bins.

Stream

Lid, crate or office bin colour

Rubbish

Red

Mixed (commingled) recycling

Yellow

Food scraps, and food and compostable packaging

Lime green

Garden waste only

Dark green

Glass (all colours together)

Blue

Clear glass

White

Brown glass

Brown

Green glass

Green

Cans and metal

Light grey

Plastics, including EPS

Orange

Paper and cardboard

Grey

Textiles

Purple

E-waste and appliances

White

On mobile bins, the body is dark green or black and the lid carries the colour that tells you what goes inside.

What about household bins?

At home, many councils use a similar scheme: a yellow bin for mixed recycling, a blue bin or crate for glass, a red bin for rubbish and a green bin for food scraps or organics. Since February 2024, the Ministry for the Environment's standard materials have also meant that councils accept the same materials in household recycling. A workplace that follows the agreed colours matches what staff and visitors already see at home.

When bins use different colours

The WasteMINZ guidance recognises that corporate branding or product design sometimes makes matching the colours impossible. Its advice is to use signage in the relevant colour to show what can go in the bin.

If your bins use different colours, make sure every bin shows what goes inside, and add your own signage where it will help. Setting up recycling stations in your workplace shows how.

Tips for using any colour scheme

  • Label every bin with words and pictures, whatever its colour.
  • Use the same scheme across the whole site, so staff learn it once.
  • If your contractor supplies external bins in the agreed colours, match your indoor bins to them where you can.
  • Brief new staff and tell visitors, for example with a sign near the stations.
  • Check your contractor's rules, since what you can put in each bin depends on them.

Choose your bins

Browse our recycling bins and signs and accessories, or open a trade account with Hygiene Direct for bulk pricing.

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