The

Rubbish Talk

​Project

Eco Educate's great idea for all little scraps of metal to be collected with your Kerbside Bins in Southbrook Transfer station Area. 

We'll be asking if anywhere else does this too!

2. What to do with Household Metal

Metal going into the Red Bin or landfill should be a last resort. Metal is easily reused for fixing or making other products. It is also easily melted and remade into new products, saving huge costs of extracting it. We have no excuses not to reuse and recycle metal as there are many places for your waste metal to go.

I (Michelle), had an old but beautiful family piano that could no longer be tuned. With the help of whanau we took it apart (yes they thought I was odd at the beginning and grumbled). All the lovely wood, candelabra and wheels went to a local Men’s Shed, the heavy frame and all the bits of metal (wire, screws etc) were sold at a scrap metal place. Only a few bits of wood mixed with nails/screws went to landfill, about 10%. My Great Aunt’s piano still lives on - now made into many other useful things.

I have too many utensils what do I do with them?

If they’re in good condition please take them to Op shops, refugee resettlement, School Fairs, community social media pages or sell on TradeMe or Marketplace, Garage Sale, Carboot Sales etc so they can continue to be used and live a good life.
If they are not usable but still intact and safe, pre-schools often like them for sand play etc. But if rusty or broken then drop off to the Transfer Stations. If you can remove/separate the metal parts and take to metal recyclers the Handles etc. can then go to landfill.
Generally, for broken Homeware and Gardenware, if there are usable components, they may be accepted by the EcoDrop recycling centres for resale at the Ecoshop, subject to inspection.

I've got a toaster that no longer works, what is best for this? What do I do with bigger items like a microwave, fridge or oven?
The three EcoShop Transfer Stations take these for free, regardless of condition and Fridges are safely de-gassed.
If the item still works then donate to a charity, someone in need on Facebook or Eco Drop will probably take them.
If none of the above, you could try a metal/e-waste recycler. This is the place one of our waste expert uses and they accept electronic waste for free https://www.nationalsteel.co.nz/contact. If there are enough items they may even collect.
What if I don't know if they go or not? Some op shops and resale shops will take the item if they do electrical testing. Please ask.

What do I do with little metal household items like screws, nails, washers?
Try community social media pages as there are often DIYers who will happily take them. Try Men’s Sheds and other charities that do stuff up.
If you can’t find a taker, then metal recyclers might take them if there is enough.
Bagged up, they may be accepted at the EcoDrop for resale, at Creative Junk – check their wishlist, Repair Café’s or again try Freecycle, Trademe, Facebook Marketplace and so on.

​If you life in the Southbrook area then you definitely don't have to put metal bits in your Red Bin. If it is metal that you drank or ate from, rinse and recycle. But for all the other bits pop into something like an old plant pot for good drainage, place beside your recycle bin on the kerb and it will be taken to Southbrook transfer station to add to the scrap metal pile. This includes all metal lids, munted nails, screws, rusty bolts, egg beater etc. Isn't that fantastic! 

I have a random metal stake, metal window frame (glass is broken), old broken heavy table with metal legs... 
Ask the friendly staff at the transfer stations also as above see if it can be someone else’s treasure.
Warratahs might be useful for community gardens and food forests.

Also if you have loads of scrap metal take it to a metal dealer. Like my story above I didn’t realise how much metal was in a piano. They can pick up or you drop off and you might be surprised how much its worth. Google ‘Scrap Metal’, there are at least five places in Christchurch, one in Leeston and three in Waimakariri.

See list of Transfer Stations for the Region on the main page: Rubbish Talk.