Welbourn School tops the class collecting almost 60,000 milk lids to win recycling challenge

NPDC has crowned New Plymouth’s Welbourn School the winner of the district's 2026 Taranaki Milk Top Challenge with its students collecting 58,844 milk bottle tops.

Averaging 165 tops per student, the school led the way in a district-wide effort that saw almost 200,000 tops collected by the 14 participating schools. The tops will now be recycled and transformed into new products, giving the plastic a second life.

Milk bottle lids can't be recycled through household kerbside collections because they're too small and light for the sorting process and can fall through equipment or become lodged in machinery.

Jenn O'Connell, Resource Recovery and Sustainability Lead, says programmes like the Taranaki Milk Top Challenge are an important way to raise awareness and keep lids out of kerbside recycling bins.

"What I love about the challenge is that it doesn’t stop at the school gate. Kids take these conversations home, families get involved, and suddenly you're talking about recycling, waste and how we use resources in everyday life," says Jenn.

"No single milk top changes the world, but thousands of kids and families taking part can make a real difference. During the challenge last year, we saw lid-related contamination in recycling bins decrease in participating school suburbs. In one area, contamination rates dropped by more than half, from 18 per cent to 8 per cent.

“Well done to every student, whānau, and school that took part.”

Welbourn School principal Bonnie Mills says the initiative aligns closely with the school's focus on sustainability and its values of kaitiakitanga (guardianship), protecting the environment for current and future generations.

"This was a real community effort. Our year six Environmental Ambassadors helped drive the project with support from teachers, and the momentum continued to grow."

Following a successful trial in 2025, the challenge expanded to 14 schools and their communities this year. It’s going from strength to strength, providing a great foundation for ongoing work with schools and whānau to build good recycling habits.

The winners of the challenge were announced at a special prizegiving event last week.

At a glance

• 198,306 tops were collected in total by 14 local schools
• Stacked on top of each other, the tops collected this year by New Plymouth District schools would reach almost 2km high, around 13 times taller than Paritutu Rock and almost 80 per cent the height of Taranaki Maunga.
• Welbourn School led the pack with 58,844 tops collected, averaging 165 tops per student. Waitara Central School claimed second place with 14,911 tops and 80 tops per student, while Waitara East School finished close behind in third with 15,661 tops and an average of 79 tops per student.
• Taranaki’s three district councils, New Plymouth, Stratford and South Taranaki delivered the challenge in their own areas this year, creating region-wide benefits for recycling education and waste reduction.

Caption: Welbourn School students celebrate their win after collecting almost 60,000 lids for recycling.