Plastics recycling effort lifted

The Far North District Council is stepping up its plastics recycling effort as an environmental initiative to further reduce the level of waste going to landfills for final disposal.

From 01 September 2007 the full range of internationally coded plastic containers number one to seven will all be accepted for recycling at Transfer Stations. Currently only plastics coded one and two are accepted for re-cycling.

The move is expected to reduce the quantity of plastics from the Far North going to landfills by up to 70 tonne a year, at the same time substantially improving the overall percentage of waste products entering the recycling chain.

Senior Technical Officer with the council’s Utilities Department Bruce Hows says the move to expand the plastics re-cycling range is in keeping with the Waste Minimisation Bill currently before a parliamentary select committee, which seeks to improve the re-cycling effort across New Zealand.

A recent audit at the Ahipara landfill and Kaikohe Waste Station showed that plastics were the second largest component in the Far North waste stream. Nearly 18% of the waste from Transfer Stations was plastics. Topping the list was organic materials (22.2%) with paper and cardboard coming in third (15.62%).

All plastics can be recycled but in New Zealand it is currently only cost-effective to recycle a small proportion of the range. With technology rapidly catching up, it is only a matter of time before it will be financially viable to process and much wider range, Mr Hows says.

In the meantime the council is subsidising handling and processing costs at Refuse Transfer stations as an incentive to encourage refuse contractors to take the wider range of plastic products and as an incentive to householders to increase the recycling effort.

Plastics collected at recycling and refuse transfer stations is sorted, bailed and transported south to various markets by council’s contractors. Number 2 plastic such as milk bottles are made into a variety of products for the New Zealand market, like bins, storage trays and mesh for gutters. The majority of the plastic collected is bailed and exported to China and Australia for re-manufacturing.

New Zealand currently recycles about 20% of the total plastics in the solid waste stream.

“It takes around 160 litres of crude oil to manufacture 3700 two-litre soft drink bottles. The same quantity of plastic bottles can be recycled to make enough fleece for about 150 synthetic garments, thus saving oil, reducing landfill costs and reducing toxic emissions to air,” Mr Hows says.

“Under these circumstances it makes sense to encourage recycling where this economically viable,” he says.

Further inquiries should be directed to:-

Rick McCall OR Bruce Hows

Communications Officer Senior Technical Officer

PH 0800 920 029