It’s in the bag for improved plastic recycling
Is there any news on the safe disposal of plastic bags and plastic wrap? Tina Jackson, Auckland. A very timely question, as a new system is scheduled to be put in place at Labour Weekend. This will end the frustration of not being able to put plastic wrap in your recycling bin. The reason that this is frowned upon is that it clogs the equipment at the recycling sorting plant. And even if you think you’re doing the right thing by putting recyclables in plastic shopping bags and dropping the whole thing in your recycling bin, know this: the whole lot just ends up in landfill because of the plastic bag. But, come Labour Day, things are going to change. A partnership between The Packaging Forum and the Government, called the REDcycle Programme, will see collection points for these plastics at New World, Pak’nSave and The Warehouse. The collections will start in Auckland and then roll out in Hamilton to include Countdown and Briscoes. Countrywide expansion will be completed over three years. The contract for collection in Auckland has been awarded to the Abilities group, which employs 130 people with disabilities. The project includes all sorts of bag types — bread bags, frozen-food bags, confectionery wrap, pasta and rice bags, toilet paper packaging, courier envelopes — basically, any packaging that can be scrunched into a ball. Birds Eye, Cottonsoft, Goodman Fielder, Huggies, Kleenex, Nestle, NZ Post, Pams and many more companies are on board with this initiative to help familiarise shoppers with the new concept. The plastic will be baled and shipped to the Replas factory in Australia where it will be made into pellets and moulded into plastic profiles, to be used in plastic furniture. A good idea all round, I’d say. (Source: Element magazine) There’s a new style of roundabout consisting of a small island surrounded by a flat concrete pad. Are we supposed to drive over or around the pad? Patrick Cotton, Auckland. Drivers of smaller vehicles are supposed to drive around them. Large vehicles like trucks and buses not capable of driving around can drive over them.