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Dear intarwebs, please solve this for me:

Wellington city council collects recyclable stuff from the curbside. However they require it to be sorted. They used to be happy take our stuff roughly divided into paper / plaster / tins -- but now they just put a sticker on the bin and tell us off for not "sorting"

By "sorting", they seem to mean "separating using supermarket bags".

However we're greenies and have stopped taking plastic bags from the supermarket, and instead have re-usable bags with us everytime. We just don't have plastic bags to sepeate the recyclables anymore.

We tried leaving out a bin with only paper in it, and another bin with only plastic in it, but they still slap a "sort it!" stick on it and won't take it.

What's the solution?

Update:
I received a reply to my enquiry with the city council. They have referred me to http://www.wellington.govt.nz/services/rubbrecyc/recycling/recycling which says to use either plastic supermarket bags, or buy WCC plastic bags from the supermarket. Both solutions seem to defeat the whole idea of reducing plastic usage. They have passed my questions onto their " Foreman of Refuse and Recycling". So I wait to see if there is another solution.

South Australia just did, Ireland said NO years ago - it's time for New Zealand to do the right thing and say NO to Plastic Bags.

It is ridiculously easy to stop using them, much easier than learning how to ride a bike, brush your teeth or tie your shoes. It is this simple - when you go shopping, take your own reusable bags and when someone asks you if you want a plastic one say no.

http://www.noplasticbags.org.nz/

No Plastic Bags in New Zealand

South Australia just did, Ireland said NO years ago - it's time for New Zealand to do the right thing and say NO to Plastic Bags.