Solid waste

Why it's important

Waste prevention and recycling offer significant potential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and the impact on the environment of storing and managing solid waste in the long term. Recycling, reuse and composting also conserve natural resources including trees, metals and water.

Key points

  • In the year to June 2018, Selwyn recycled 39% of all waste, as kerbside recycling and green waste (excludes cleanfill).
  • Christchurch recycled 31% of all material in 2018, a much higher proportion than in previous years.

Note this is an interactive chart and you can select the legend items to change what is shown on the graph.

Note: Cleanfill has been excluded as Christchurch City no longer collects this data. Selwyn recycled 1,017 tonnes of cleanfill in 2018. See the data tables for data over time.

Commentary 

Recycling hard materials and green waste has been possible in Greater Christchurch for over twenty years.

Christchurch City has the largest amount of waste and recycling (due to population/city size). In the year to June 2018, 282,147 tonnes of solid waste went to landfill from Christchurch. Selwyn sent 18,646 tonnes to landfill over the same period.

Data notes

Waste to landfill is made up of kerbside waste, public bins, and commercial and public waste being dropped off at public waste depots.

Recycling material includes kerbside recycling, public bins, organic collection, commercial and public recycling and organic material (green waste) being dropped off at public waste depots and hazardous waste.

Clean hard fill is comprised of items such as concrete, bricks and stones. The “clean” in clean fill means that the waste is not contaminated by any other form of waste. 

Note: The Christchurch City data for cleanfill in 2016 and 2017 is recorded in cubic metres (then converted to tonnes) so there may be up to 10% deviation from the figure given.

Waste to the Burwood Landfill (from material disposed of as a result of the 2010-11 earthquakes) is not included in these figures.

Data information and downloads

Data source

Christchurch City Council. Waimakariri and Selwyn District Councils

Data access

Tables on request

Date updated

Year to June (last updated June 2018)

Data download

Download data tables [XLSX, 18 KB]

Page updated

May 2019

Data breakdowns available

Geographic area

Christchurch City Council and Selwyn District Councils

Other variables in the data download

Data by waste type

Links to other information and reports