---
name: nz-recycling-locator
description: "Find New Zealand reuse and recycling drop-offs by material and location, including Habitat reuse stores, Christchurch collection depots and Auckland community recycling centres, plus text search of repair cafés and Tyrewise collection sites. Use when locating material collection services or searching local repair events. TROW stock and Zero Waste membership markers are unsupported and are not fetched."
license: MIT
compatibility: "Requires Python 3.10+ and network access for live data"
metadata:
  thecolab.category: "environment"
  thecolab.source_owner: "RecycleMap NZ, WasteMINZ and collection networks"
  thecolab.source_type: "mixed"
  thecolab.auth: "none"
  thecolab.access_mode: "public-api"
  thecolab.data_class: "public"
  thecolab.writes: "false"
  thecolab.browser: "false"
  thecolab.risk: "low"
  thecolab.cache_ttl: "24h"
  thecolab.schema_version: "1"
  thecolab.skill_type: "public-api"
  thecolab.pack: "nz-public-data"
  thecolab.source_url: "https://www.recyclemap.co.nz/"
  thecolab.allowed_domains: "www.recyclemap.co.nz,www.google.com,www.opengis.net,www.sitemaps.org,www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz,www.repairnetworkaotearoa.org.nz,www.tyrewise.co.nz,www.e-cycle.co.nz,services7.arcgis.com,agrecovery.co.nz,api.mapme.com,techcollect.nz,trowrestore.com,gis.ccc.govt.nz,zerowaste.co.nz,www.habitat.org.nz,www.makingzerowastework.org.nz"
  thecolab.last_verified: "2026-10-12"
  thecolab.health: "degraded"
  thecolab.maintainer: "@adam91holt"
---

# NZ recycling locator

Find reuse and recycling drop-offs by material and WGS84 location; text-search
repair cafés and Tyrewise sites. Use
`scripts/cli.py` (Python 3.10+, stdlib). All commands support `--json`.
Read [source notes](references/source-notes.md) for coverage, acceptance limits,
upstream schemas and the unimplemented Council command.

```bash
python3 scripts/cli.py sources --json
python3 scripts/cli.py materials --source recyclemap --json
python3 scripts/cli.py find --material battery --near=174.7633,-36.8485 --radius 10 --json
python3 scripts/cli.py find --material concrete --near=174.7633,-36.8485 --source branz --radius 30 --format geojson
python3 scripts/cli.py search "Manurewa" --bbox=174.5,-37.2,175.2,-36.5 --json
python3 scripts/cli.py search "repair" --source repair --json
python3 scripts/cli.py search "EcoDrop" --source christchurch --bbox=172.4,-43.7,172.8,-43.3 --format geojson
python3 scripts/cli.py search "Panmure" --source habitat --json
python3 scripts/cli.py search "Onehunga" --source crc --json
python3 scripts/cli.py item "battery" --json
```

1. Check `sources` for **live** status. It reports blocked or skipped sources
   without pretending they are empty directories. `trow` and `zerowaste` are
   skipped without a request. Repair status counts sitemap URLs; search fetches
   the linked café detail pages.
2. Use `materials` to inspect publisher labels. `find` accepts common aliases
   such as `battery`, `car battery`, `ewaste`, `paper` and `metal`; other
   terms match material labels case-insensitively by substring. Aliases match
   whole labels: `battery` excludes `Car Batteries`; `clothing` includes both
   resalable and non-resalable clothing labels as well as an explicit op-shop
   or textiles label. Habitat stores use the generic `Reuse` label only, so
   they match `reuse` and do not match `clothing`.
   `search` matches all words in names, addresses, material labels and
   store-specific descriptions, including publisher restrictions. A shared
   disclaimer that is identical on every listing of a source is not a match.
   Habitat details say the card does not state accepted materials; those words
   do not make every store a clothing or building hit.
3. `find` requires `--near=longitude,latitude`; radius defaults to 20 km.
   `find` and `search` support `--bbox=minLon,minLat,maxLon,maxLat` and
   `--format geojson`. Null coordinates remain null and are excluded from
   spatial filters using local point containment. Default spatial queries skip
   Tyrewise, CRC and repair sources. Use text search for these listings. Tyres
   with coordinates may appear in other feeds. `salvage` does not query TROW.
4. Present source links, material restrictions, charges and opening hours.
   A site listed for one battery type may exclude another. Confirm acceptance
   with the operator, particularly damaged batteries and commercial loads.

Repeat `--source` to combine selected feeds: `recyclemap`, `wasteminz`, `repair`,
`tyrewise`, `ecycle`, `branz`, `agrecovery`, `beautification`, `council`,
`techcollect`, `trow`, `christchurch`, `zerowaste`, `habitat`, `crc`. Defaults include
the eleven directories that have a verified public feed. `trow`, `zerowaste`,
`council` and `techcollect` are unsupported. A data command that selects only
those sources returns exit 7 and does not fetch them. `sources` lists them as
skipped. A public landing link is included: TROW
`https://trowrestore.com/`, Zero Waste Aotearoa `https://zerowaste.co.nz/`,
plus the Council and TechCollect pages. With a working source they appear in
`source_status` and warnings with `result_status: partial` (exit 0 when records
remain). The TROW stock feed returns seller identity and contact fields. The
Zero Waste marker feed mixes membership records and ignores map selection.
Neither feed is requested, cached, or repaired by guessing which names are people.

`item` returns `unsupported_operation` (exit 7) with the Council URL to consult.
It does not fetch or interpret Council disposal guidance.

Every record includes `name`, `address`, `lon`, `lat`, `materials`, `hours`,
`source`, and `provenance`. Record provenance has `source_url`, `publisher`,
`retrieved_at`, plus `licence` and `latest_data` only when known. JSON output
has `meta` and `results`; GeoJSON has `meta` and `features` with records in
feature properties. Errors have `meta`, empty `results`, and a typed `error`.
`materials` groups retain a provenance list; flat fields appear only for groups
from one source. `source_status` and `warnings` expose source failures;
`result_status: partial` indicates incomplete results. If no matching records
remain and any selected source failed, the query returns that failure.

The `crc` source provides Auckland CRC addresses without verified coordinates;
use text search. When a centre publishes two address forms that do not match,
both are retained and the result says so. A shorter display line that is a
prefix of the directory line is not treated as a second site. The `reuse` alias
also matches Beautification’s “Rehome” label. Christchurch depots expose broad
refuse/recycling/green-waste flags. Habitat provides reuse-store addresses and
coordinates. It does not label every store as an op shop or as accepting clothing.
`find --material salvage` does not invent TROW stock locations.

BRANZ planned facilities are excluded. Human output shows facility type and
status; warnings identify service contractors or entries not marked Existing.
Confirm that these operators accept public drop-offs before recommending them.

Data commands cache normalised public records in `$XDG_CACHE_HOME/nz-recycling-locator`
(or `~/.cache/nz-recycling-locator`) for 24 hours; `--refresh` bypasses it.
Parser version 5 ignores older cache files and any file whose records contain
refused identity keys. Those files are not deleted. Unsupported sources are
never read from cache. Cached records retain their actual retrieval time.
`sources` always checks live and does not request unsupported sources. No cache
is used after a failed refresh. `--limit 20` bounds search/find output;
`--limit 0` returns all matches.
Data queries and live status probes load up to four sources concurrently,
retaining each source's request
pacing and selection order. Counts refer to source entries; overlapping sites
are deliberately kept with separate provenance. Network calls have 10-second timeouts.

Run `scripts/test_contract.py` for deterministic synthetic-fixture, provenance,
spatial and error checks. Run `scripts/smoke_test.py` for bounded live probes;
source outages are reported as skips and parser regressions as failures.