The plastics not worth recycling

Marlborough will send about 70 tonnes of plastic to landfill each year now some types, the likes of coffee cup lids and takeaway containers, have become ‘‘nonrecyclable’’, a recycling boss says.

Marlborough District Council solid waste manager Alec Mcneil said an ‘‘absence’’ of market demand meant tonnes of soft plastics, coloured bottles and mixed plastics were no longer worth collecting.

A report he prepared ahead of the council’s assets and services committee, set down for tomorrow, said of the 470 tonnes of plastic processed in Marlborough a year, about 15 per cent had no ‘‘recycling pathway’’, and landfill was the ‘‘only remaining option’’.

Mcneil said the first batch could be dumped at Bluegums Landfill, 6 kilometres south of Blenheim, from as early as March this year.

‘‘Things can’t be recyclable unless you have a market for it. If something doesn’t have a market, then there’s no point collecting it.’’

Mcneil said the drop in demand was in part linked to China’s announcement in 2018 that it would no longer accept many types of waste, including all plastics, because of contamination problems.

‘‘Many places used to take mixed bales of plastic . . . [and] use those mixed materials in manufacturing process, but as quality standards change, no-one is signalling they want that 10 and 15 per cent.’’

Changes made to the sorting process last financial year meant Marlborough only processed plastics that were in demand and could be recycled in New Zealand – known as plastics types 1, 2 and 5 – which included milk bottles, water bottles and cleaners.

These plastics, which made up 85 per cent of Marlborough’s plastics, were often made into plastic pellets or new packaging.

But unlike other councils, which only accepted these plastics, Marlborough’s Resource Recovery Centre still accepted types 3, 4, 6 and 7, but would ‘‘send them to landfill for disposal’’.

Dumping plastics at landfill could cost the region about $10,000 a year, excluding GST, based on current landfill gate fees, he said.

Marlborough processed about 5500 tonnes of recycling each year.

To reduce the amount of nonrecyclable plastics at the centre, Mcneil asked the council to promote a reduction message to the community in conjunction

with other top of the south councils, and with input from the industry body and Plastics New Zealand.

The message would tell the public what plastic materials could and could not be recycled, and asked them to consider this at the shops.

Plastic types:

Still recyclable

1 – Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET or PETE or Polyester). Mostly used for food and drink packaging, including mineral water and carbonated soft drinks. 2 – High-density Polyethylene (HDPE). Items made from this plastic include containers for milk, motor oil, shampoos and conditioners, soap bottles, detergents and bleach.

5 – Polypropylene (PP). Used widely for hot food containers.

Off to landfill

3 – Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC). PVC is typically used in toys, blister wrap, cling wrap, detergent bottles, loose-leaf binders, blood bags and medical tubing.

4 – Low-density Polyethylene (LDPE). LDPE is mostly used for bags (grocery, dry cleaning, bread, frozen food bags, newspaper bags, garbage), plastic wraps; coatings for paper milk cartons and hot & cold beverage cups; some squeezable bottles, food storage containers, container lids. Also used for wire and cable covering.

6 – Polystyrene (PS). Polystyrene is the styrofoam commonly used for food containers, egg cartons, disposable cups and bowls and packaging.

7 – Other. All plastics other than those identified by number 1 – 6 and also plastics that may be layered or mixed with other types of plastics.