Local boards have been pushing for a community recycling facility to service the Auckland isthmus.

A central Auckland site has been chosen for a new recycling centre.

The recycling facility will be built on Great North Rd in Western Springs and will allow householders and businesses to drop off unwanted items such as furniture, sports equipment, clothes and DIY materials.

It will be located at 956-990 Great North Rd beside the northwestern motorway and opposite Western Springs park.

KIRK HARGREAVES / FAIRFAX NZ The recycling facility will allow householders and businesses to drop off unwanted items.

The Auckland Horticultural Council uses the site and its hall is regularly hired out to community groups.

Albert-Eden Local Board chair Peter Haynes says the details and design of the new facility are yet to be decided.

"It may well be that the horticultural council can remain on the site. We don't know," he says.

Albert-Eden, Waitemata and Puketapapa local boards have been pushing for a community recycling facility to service the Auckland isthmus and join with the region's Resource Recovery Network.

A number of sites were investigated for the recycling centre including a council-owned, mixed-use site property on Normanby Rd in Mt Eden.

Haynes says Normanby Rd was the board's preferred option as it appeared to have the greatest capacity and potential for the facility.

But Auckland Council's Finance Committee was advised that the Mt Eden site was unsuitable for the recycling centre. Auckland Council Property Ltd has flagged the site as one to potentially sell due to its high market value, likely to be upwards of $11 million, rather than keeping it on the council's books.

An option has also been floated for the Normanby Rd site to be offered to Life Church as part of a land swap.

Life Church is at 95 Mt Eden Rd and is in the path of Auckland Transport's $2.5 billion City Rail Link project.

The Albert-Eden Local Board agreed on the Great North Rd site at a board meeting on December 2.

Haynes says the facility will be one of two sites within the three local board areas, with a larger industrial processing site to be located in Onehunga.

"We can do most of the stuff on the Western Springs site but it can't process industrial-grade waste," he says.

The Resource Recovery Network is a core project in Auckland Council's Waste Management and Minimisation Plan, with its long-term goal to provide community recycling hubs.

The centres will allow households and businesses to drop off unwanted items which will be repaired, refurbished and sold through a retail-style store or dismantled for recycling and sold into commodity markets.