Nelson chosen for kerbside soft plastic recycling trial
That collection of plastic bags you keep forgetting to drop off at a recycling point could soon be picked up at the kerb.
Nelson has been chosen by the Packaging Forum as the location for a trial into kerbside collection of soft plastics.
Under the six-month trial, which will be funded by the forum, selected households will be given bags to fill with soft plastic. Full bags will then be placed kerbside for collection in a crate alongside other recycling.
About 1000 homes will be included in the trial, which is hoped to start in the second half of 2024.
The forum presented the opportunity to the Nelson City Council at a meeting on Thursday.
Lyn Mayes, soft plastic recycling scheme manager for the forum, said New Zealanders had said the convenience of kerbside collection would help improve their recycling.
Data showed that plastic bags were less likely to be recycled than plastic containers, she said.
“People don’t find it so easy because they have to make an effort.”
Forum chief executive Rob Langford said Nelson had a “unique opportunity” to help lead the way.
The forum would fund the trial and would be happy to look at ongoing support if it was successful, he said.
“We’re happy to look at how we can ensure we can expand it.”
Soft plastics is one of six products targeted for mandatory product stewardship by the Ministry for the Environment.
Product stewardship places responsibility for managing end-of-life products on producers, importers and retailers rather than on consumers, the wider community or councils.
Langford said the trial would help soft plastic recycling to be rolled out quickly. “This is our chance to get it right and efficient and can do it at speed.”
Mayes said Nelson was a good city to run the trial in, as it was the largest council in the top of the south, with good proximity to Future Post in Blenheim, where recycled plastics are used to make fence posts.
Councillors were enthusiastic about the scheme.
“How do we say yes now and get going,” Councillor Campbell Rollo asked.
Mayor Nick Smith said he was hugely excited when the forum raised the opportunity. “This is a really good opportunity for Nelson to take the lead.”
Councillor James Hodgson said it seemed like the council was being offered “a pretty cool opportunity and a bit of a freebie”.
He asked whether the companies recycling soft plastics had the capacity to take more or if it could create a bottleneck in the future.
Mayes said there were three processing plants nationally, and they needed to double their supply over the next year.
Councillor Mel Courtney asked if offering kerbside collection would lead to less soft plastic being collected at drop off points.
Mayes said that was one of the questions they were looking to answer in the trial, but only about 15% of people make the effort to drop off soft plastics, so it was likely a kerbside scheme would attract people who weren’t using that system.
They trials would also look at the required frequency of collection, though in general it would take a couple of weeks to fill the collection bag.
Council group manager infrastructure Alec Louverdis said if the trial went ahead the council would support it through communications.
“The Packaging Forum use their own collector and separate crates. These are similar to the blue crates people use for recycling glass but would be a different colour.
“This trial will not be part of council’s kerbside recycling collection service and it is important that householders don’t place soft plastics in our yellow top bins as these can’t be recycled through council’s facilities.”
For those not in the trial, the Packaging Forum would continue to offer soft plastic drop offs at a range of supermarkets. “We don’t know which route or routes the trial will take place on just yet, but will let people know as soon as we can.”