Pitfalls of recycling compounded by fact no two councils are the same

Wednesday, 1 January 2020

Soft plastics collections are back in Auckland and Hamilton.

ANALYSIS: We might see ourselves as clean green Kiwis, but New Zealand has one of the highest rates of household waste production in the OECD.

New Zealanders are worried about waste though, ranking it as as one of the three topics we are most concerned about in a Ministry for the Environment survey.

Making matters worse is New Zealand's size and geographical isolation, which means the mainstream waste items collected here for recycling do not necessarily stay here to be made into new products.

New Zealand does not have the manufacturing base as its population – and therefore consumption – is much smaller than larger countries that can justify manufacturing plants.

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NZ exports its waste plastic overseas, but some countries are no longer accepting the material.

* Thousands of tonnes of recycling are sent abroad every year - could we fight the war on waste here?

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Cardboard and glass tends to be converted into new products within New Zealand, but most plastic, paper and metal resources are sent overseas for to be made into new products.

But the challenges begin long before any of our waste is sent overseas. It's a minefield to recycle efficiently in New Zealand because every district has its own rules and regulations.

The rules can also change suddenly (or at the whim of another country like China) so responsible recyclers need to keep up with the current state of play in their neighbourhood.

Bottles in bales ready for recycling at Flight Plastics in Lower Hutt.

Some councils including Selwyn and Napier run their own rural and urban kerbside collection for residential waste and recycling, while some like Kapiti Coast and Upper Hutt have very little control over waste as it is managed by private companies.

In Kaikoura the council's kerbside collection is for recycling only – waste has to be taken to the landfill by residents.

Some districts like Waimakariri take food scraps and green waste, but most with organics collections only accept green waste. This could change n the coming years, however, with 20 councils indicating they are planning or investigating kerbside food scraps collections.

Diverting food waste from landfill is important for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. A truck filled with 25 tonnes of organic waste can be driven 13,100 kilometres to a composting facility before it emits the same amount of greenhouse gases as that same truckload put in a landfill.

Then there are some, such as Ashburton and Hauraki, that offer no organics collection at all, while some councils like the Hurunui have other initiatives such as discounted bokashi (composting) kits or sustainable living workshops.

The New Plymouth District Council is investing more than $20 million over the next decade to curb its waste toll, and is even trialling using plastics in road surfacing as a substitute for oil.

Kiwis are worried about waste, ranking it as as one of the three topics they are most concerned about in a Government survey.

Some authorities accept plastic grades 1 and 2, some 1 to 5, and others take 1 to 7. Then there are plastic milk bottle lids, which are accepted for recycling in some areas, Marlborough and Whanganui to name two, but forbidden in others including Queenstown-Lakes.

The Timaru District Council used to accept milk bottle lids but has changed its stance 'in line with Government recommendations'.

Even if they are included in recycling, they are often too small for the plastic sorting machines to handle so will ultimately end up in landfill.

If you look hard you can still find a handful of districts still taking soft plastics – Kaikōura and Kaipara are stockpiling them until a solution is found.

Some district councils take milk bottle lids, which are number 2 plastic.

Southland goes one better – not only does it accept soft plastics, but it has found an overseas market for them.

The Clutha council is unique in that it does not collect glass for recycling. Anyone wishing to dispose of glass can drop it off at local transfer stations or at the landfill, where it is stockpiled and used there for roading and drainage.

It's almost impossible to put together a league table of the districts that are the best or worst at recycling because there are so many variables.

Some councils including the Far North and Upper Hutt hold very little data because waste collections are run by private companies.

Then there are tourist hotspots such as Taupō, which has an impressive diversion (waste from landfill) rate of 47 per cent. Its volumes of waste and recycling are among the highest per capita though because its data is measured only against its permanent population of 32,418.

The council's records do not allow for peak visitor numbers over summer, which can be greater than 60,000.

Few councils accept soft plastics nowadays, but two (Kaikōura and Kaipara) are stockpiling them, while Southland turns them into new products.

Farming strongholds such as the Manawatū district (which diverts only 21 per cent of its waste from landfill) have no allowance in their figures for the tonnes of waste dumped on farms.

Similarly in Marlborough, where the diversion rate is just 18 per cent, all waste – industrial, commercial and domestic – is taken into account. Due to the district's reliance on the primary sector, its overall waste profile is affected, and its volume of waste per capita is higher than other districts at 1.4 tonnes per annum.

Only five districts in New Zealand (Hamilton, Opotiki, Gisborne, Kaikoura and Mackenzie) can claim to divert more than 50 per cent of waste from landfill, while nine (Far North, Taupo, Thames-Coromandel, New Plymouth, Selwyn, Timaru, Waimate and Waitaki) record a rate of between 40 and 49 .9 per cent.

Wasteminz chief executive Janine Brindson says the organisation will release a significant research project early this year that will help people handle plastic waste better.

Thirteen divert less than a quarter of waste from landfill and the same number divert between 30 and 40 per cent.

Take into account how far waste has to travel to its respective landfill and it gets more complicated.

Kaikōura, for example, prides itself on having consistently high diversion rates and has its own landfill.

The landfill has only 18 months left before it is full though, at which point the district's waste will need to be transported north to Blenheim or south to Kate Valley in North Canterbury. The decision has yet to be made but either option will inevitably compromise the town's environmental footprint.

At least 10 councils dispose of waste at a landfill more than 100km from their main centre.

There could be an end in sight for the confusion if national standardisation is brought in, a project which is currently in the research phase, according to WasteMINZ, a membership-based organisation dealing with small operators through to councils and large companies.

WasteMINZ chief executive Janine Brinsdon said research project Rethinking Plastic, released in December, outlined the Government's priorities regarding products that were not easily recycled.

'We all know that packaging and containers make up a significant amount of the tonnage collected from households, [kerbside] collection, and WasteMINZ continues to work closely with the councils and recyclers to educate households about what is able to be recycled – and what isn't.

'We have undergone a significant research project, due for release early 2020, which will be invaluable to those brands looking to change the way their products are packaged or delivered, and will empower consumers to understand how they can make a positive impact on the amount of plastic waste they generate through their actions and choice.'

RECYCLING RULES

GLASS:

The only glass you can recycle is container glass. This means bottles and jars only – no pyrex, drinking glass or mirrors.

PLASTIC (you need to check locally):

1 plastic (polyethylene terephthalate, or PET for short): Water and soft drink bottles.

2 plastic (high-density polyethylene, or HDPE for short): Milk, cleaning products, shampoo bottles.

3 plastic (polyvinyl chloride, or PVC for short): Fruit trays, shrink wrap, blister packs.

4 plastic (low-density polyethylene, or LDPE for short): Soft plastic like bread bags, sandwich bags and the now-banished shopping bag.

5 plastic (polypropylene, or PP for short): Bag inside cereal box, yoghurt/margarine containers, buckets.

6 plastic (polystyrene, or PS for short): Takeaway containers, plastic cutlery, packing foam.

7 plastic (Other - BPA, polycarbonate and Lexan): Baby bottles, sippy cups, water cooler bottles and car parts.

TETRA PAKS:

It's a no across the board, except in Buller where they are accepted for the overseas market in the mixed paper bales.

PLANT POTS:

Generally it's a no for recycling plant pots, even if they are marked with an acceptable number, due to contamination from soil.

MILK BOTTLE LIDS:

The lids are made from the same number 2 plastic as the bottles. Some authorities refuse them, some accept them but throw them out, and some accept them knowing the processing machine will ultimately reject them and they will end up in landfill.

GARDEN WASTE:

As a general rule of thumb, garden waste should usually be taken to a transfer station – if it is accepted at all – although districts including Christchurch, Waimakariri, Selwyn and Timaru offer a collection service.

FOOD WASTE:

Councils are more fussy about food waste, although there are some that will process it along with green waste to make compost.