Porirua’s kerbside glass not recycled since 2022
Glass collected from Porirua kerbs has not been recycled since 2022, with some of it heading instead towards the landfill.
The city’s residents currently put all their glass bottle and jars in 140-litre wheelie bins which are collected every four weeks by Porirua City Council’s contractors.
A contract change in 2022 meant recyclers would not accept colour mixed glass from the kerb, but the council’s contractors continued to collect them. Some of the mixed glass was used for drainage and roading at the Spicer Landfill, and the rest headed to the tip.
Only the glass dropped off at the landfill’s recycling station was colour sorted and recycled.
As part of its draft three-year Long Term Plan, council officials proposed to replace user-pays council rubbish bags and introduce rates-funded wheelie bins in 2027 for general rubbish and mixed recycling, and crates so glass could be colour-sorted at the kerb upon pick up.
The consultation document said it would reduce contamination and cut down the amount of recycling heading to the landfill.
“This would mean that all the glass could be properly recycled,” said Porirua City Council’s infrastructure manager Mike Mendonça.
“Changes in the industry have meant we need to change how we sort, collect and recycle glass. We think that our existing recycling system doesn’t really deliver the environmental outcomes to which our community aspires. Unfortunately it will also be more expensive.”
Porirua mayor Anita Baker said the change to the coloured glasses collection was the reason the city needed to overhaul its waste collection, and she wanted to approach glass recycling regionally.
“If we took the recycling side away people would be unhappy [because] they still want us to recycle, but the bottom line is we can’t afford it.”
Councillor Geoff Hayward, who represents Porirua on the Wellington region waste management and minimisation plan joint committee, said everyone had to “do their bit” on slowing down landfills from filling too quickly.
“The private sector needs glass in a particular way to make it reusable and commercially viable,” he said.
“We need to get this fixed and the solution is changing how we do kerbside collection, including organic waste. If we don’t then we can't say we are truly doing our bit.”