We need your clean recycling
WasteNet Southland is urging people to take more care with their recycling, and only place clean recyclable products in their yellow recycling bins resulting in Southland being in a better position to sell recycling through international markets.
‘‘The global market for recycling has collapsed because of China closing its borders to waste plastic and waste paper,’’ says Senior Waste Officer Donna Peterson.
‘‘This means that we need to be extra careful in what we collect at our Council recycling facilities and how we process that collected product.’’
‘‘All recycling markets are following China’s lead and are not accepting low quality recyclables. This means that to compete in today’s recycling markets we need to sell high quality products.’’
WasteNet is working with WasteMINZ (Waste Management Institute of New Zealand) to source national solutions. WasteNet Southland supports the WasteMINZ Rebooting Recycling in Aoteaora discussion paper, and encourages Central Government to work with the New Zealand recycling sector to work towards long term solutions for recycling in New Zealand.
WasteNet hopes to see Central Government support initiatives whereby New Zealand’s recycling industry is more resilient to changes in the international market. WasteNet is also working in partnership with its collection and recycling processing contractors to reduce recycling contamination so materials have a higher value.
‘‘We have reviewed our compaction ratios on collection vehicles to reduce glass breakage, and make materials easier to separate,’’ Ms Peterson says.
‘‘We have also reviewed the speed of the sorting lines at material recovery facilities and put more staff on the lines to reduce contamination and improve quality.’’
‘‘We have people checking the contents of the yellow recycling bins before they are emptied, to reduce contamination getting into collection vehicles and spoiling all the materials.’’
‘‘Recycling plants throughout the country are adding people onto their sorting lines to improve their quality,’’ Ms Peterson says.
‘‘We are fortunate that we have this in place already. The next step we need is for households to play their part.’’
It does take a little bit of work to prepare items for recycling.
Most of them can’t just be tossed into the yellow bin, however the effort is worthwhile as its increases the quality of Southland’s recycling, making it easier to sell overseas.
Here are some guidelines on how to prepare your recycling:
● Check that the item can be recycled – you can do this by visiting the website – www.wastenet.org.nz
● Empty your bottles and cans.
● Make sure you wash (or thoroughly rinse) all bottles and cans.
● Ensure no food or sticky liquid is stuck to any of your recyclables.