Imagine if you could recycle your PVC gumboots? Well, now you can. Bata Industrials in Owhiro Bay, Wellington, not only make gumboots but also recycles them.
Mixed results for Public Place Recycling bin scheme
Wellington City Council introduced a Public Place Recycling bin trial to the capital last May, and now just over a year on, a recent audit show it’s doing well – but we could do better.
The first bin was installed in Cuba Mall, with eight additional recycling stations rolled out around the city for the public to recycle glass, plastic, cans and paper/cardboard items – with separate bins for rubbish.
An audit of recycling collected in the bins in October 2018 showed a few teething problems with a 48% contamination rate, compared with the most recent one which showed a much improved 17% contamination rate.
The trial, a joint project with the Love NZ/Be a Tidy Kiwi campaign delivered by the Packaging Forum, will determine the future of public place recycling in the future, and Mayor Justin Lester is happy with the results so far.
“This additional recycling system has resulted in a good number of recyclable items that can be processed and repurposed being diverted away from the landfill.
“The Council has run a recycling trial in the past, but the bins were constantly contaminated with rubbish so it came to an unhappy end. We're pleased to see that public education and environmental consciousness, combined with a new design, multilingual instructions, and coordinated colour coding across the country, has proved to be more of a success this time around.”
Councillor Iona Pannett, Portfolio Leader for Infrastructure and Sustainability, says that although it’s good news to see the contamination rate appearing to decrease, at 17% there’s still room for improvement.
She also points out that the amount of products diverted from landfill throughout the trial is relatively small when compared with kerbside collection. Approximately 6 tonnes of plastic, paper, card and cans has been diverted and around 29 tonnes of glass, compared to the 6,920 tonnes of co-mingled recyclables and 4,650 tonnes of glass that are collected from households a year.
“However, the bins do give out a good message about the need to recycle. The Council encourages Wellingtonians to figure out whether they need a product in the first place, or promotes use of products like keep cups for coffee that can be used again and again,” she says.
Council’s Waste Minimisation Project Officer Aviva Stein says the results are promising, but a recent audit found the most common contaminants were soft plastics, dirty napkins and compostable packaging. None of these can be recycled and should go in the rubbish bin instead.
“It’s hard to compare with different trials as there are so many different models and audit methodologies – but so far, so good. The most disheartening thing though, is seeing a whole bin load of recyclable items ending up in landfill because it’s contaminated with unaccepted waste.
“We know it can be confusing, but we ask that people follow the instructions, think about what they’re putting in the bins, and if they’re really unsure to put it in the rubbish bin – and check out our online recycling directory later on for future reference.”
Council allocated $300,000 from its annual waste minimisation levy funds which it receives from the Ministry for the Environment. At the conclusion of the trial a decision will be made as to the practicality and cost of implementing public place recycling in Wellington permanently.
-WCC
Recycling just got a lot clearer
Wellington City Council will soon be delivering free packs of recycling bags to Wellington households – and although they are no longer green, they’re much greener than before.
The new see through bags, being delivered to 26,000 households over the next couple of months, are now recyclable alongside the items that are put in it.
The change comes in part due to public demand for the bags. The bags are the same size as before, and take the same materials – clean paper, cardboard, plastic, tins and cans. Being clear, they will also reduce contamination and risks to collectors, according to Mayor Justin Lester.
“Together Wellington City residents recycle about 12,000 tonnes of materials a year. This reduces the amount of waste that would otherwise end up in the Landfill by about 20 percent – but obviously we’d like to see this number grow.
“Part of the problem, is about 10% of recycling ends up in Landfill due to contamination, so now the collector will be able to clearly identify any contamination including harmful items or glass.”
The main kerbside recycling contamination:
Glass going in with co-mingled materials instead of being separated into crate
Food contamination in plastic packaging, glass jars and pizza boxes
Garden waste
Dirty nappies
Plastics being mixed into glass crates with glass
Polystyrene contamination
The Council’s Infrastructure and Sustainability portfolio leader Councillor Iona Pannett says this is a step in the right direction, but there’s still a long way to go to reduce waste in the capital.
“Over 50% of what is in rubbish bags or private wheelie bins is potentially recyclable – paper and cardboard 28% and plastics 36% are the biggest offenders. Food is also an issue so the council will be undertaking a trial of a kerbside composting trial later in the year.
“We know most residents are good at recycling, but we encourage anyone who is unsure about what they can recycle to check on our online directory for how to better reduce, reuse, and recycle.
“We’re pleased to say these new recycling bags are a more sustainable alternative, which conforms to the necessary requirements like strength, shelf life and affordability.
“The bags will be processed off-shore in Malaysia whilst a market exists. Longer term we hope that these bags can be recycled on-shore and that a market will develop for products made from them,” adds Councillor Pannett.
The new bags will be recycled back into LDPE pellets, as a ‘raw’ material as part of manufacturing of new products.
LDPE is widely used for manufacturing various containers, dispensing bottles, wash bottles, tubing, plastic bags for computer components, and various molded laboratory equipment. Its most common use is in plastic bags. Other products made from it include trays and general purpose containers.
Not every address will receive the free pack though, with inner-city residents having a different process for recycling, and with some streets on a blacklist because of ongoing rubbish offences.
Green recycling bags will still be collected. The Council also has 2000 green recycling bags in stock which will be distributed in the first stages of delivery – which started this Saturday 30 March.
-WCC