Do you have household hazardous wastes that you no longer want stored in your garage, shed, or house? Or have you moved onto a property and the previous owner or occupier has left household hazardous wastes behind?

The Council provides Waimakariri residents a free disposal service for domestic quantities of household hazardous wastes at our HazMobile Days. The HazMobile days are held on consecutive Saturdays in Kaiapoi and Rangiora, between the hours of 10am and 2pm, and are usually timed for February each year.

Please note that the next HazMobile Days will be in February 2009. The actual dates have yet to be finalised, and will be advertised closer to the HazMobile days.
Examples of household hazardous wastes are shown in the table below:

These household hazardous wastes (HHW) will be accepted free of charge from residents in the Waimakariri District, but we won’t accept containers or quantities over 20 litres or 20 kg of any one waste type. Please note that we now cannot accept old medicines at the HazMobile, and have yet to update our pamplhlets to relfect this change.

Because the HazMobile is an annual event, it is important that you ensure the containers are sound and do not leak while they are stored. If the containers are in poor condition, put containers with solid HHW into a heavy-duty plastic bag and securely close the bag, and place bottles or other containers for liquid HHW in separate buckets with lids. Please do not store different types of HHW in the same bucket.

When bringing in HHW to the HazMobile, please label the contents clearly if you know what the contents are and the original label is unclear, ensure that lids fit the containers tightly, and transport the containers upright and secured in the boot to that they can’t tip over and leak (for example place the containers in a cardboard box or plastic tray). Any unsound containers should be placed in a heavy-duty plastic bag or bucket (as described above) when they are transported to the HazMobile to prevent leaks in the car.

We will not accept the following at the HazMobile:

- Commercial quantities of hazardous wastes (i.e. more than 20kg or 20 litres of any one waste). Disposal of commercial hazardous wastes can be arranged through a hazardous waste treatment company. Check the yellow pages for contact details.
- Ammunition or other explosives. Please contact your nearest police station for information appropriate disposal methods.
- Medical wastes (such as syringes). Please ask your doctor or other health professional for advice on appropriate disposal methods.
-Medicines. You can take all old or unused medicines to any pharmacy in the district, at any time of the year.
- Asbestos. This can only be disposed of under manifest at the Kate Valley Landfill, and needs to be removed and handled in accordance with the Ministry of health guidelines. Click on this link for more information on the safe removal, handling and disposal of asbestos.
- Large quantities of agricultural chemicals (i.e. more than 20kg or 20 litres of any one AgChem).

See the HazWaste Pamphlet for more information about household hazardous wastes, and the 2007 HazMobile Pamphlet for more information about the HazMobile. The next HazMobile Days will be in February 2009.

If you live on a rural property and find a large quantity of agricultural chemicals when you're cleaning out a shed, please don't take them to the HazMobile. Contact the Council, and we will send you a Registration Form for the final free AgChem Collection in 2009. Please leave the transportation of these hazardous wastes to the experts. The AgChem Collection has been carried out annually since 2004, and all rural property owners across the entire district have had the opportunity to participate in this collection. The 2009 collection will be the last Council-funded collection of stockpiled AgChems in the District.

View 2008 HazMobile Pamphlet (pdf 196kb)

View HazWaste Pamphlet (pdf 158kb)

View 2008 HazMobile Poster (jpeg 412kb)

Long Life or Energy Efficient Light Bulbs (jpeg 51kb)

Asbestos (pdf 63kb)