Recycle effort still disappoints
Recycling contamination rates in the Timaru district remain ‘‘stubbornly high’’ despite a highly visible campaign from the council, including topless images of the mayor encouraging residents to put their bottle lids in the correct bin, which gained national attention.
Timaru District Council general manager infrastructure Andrew Dixon said yesterday that just under 40 per cent of recyclables were still not going in the right bin.
‘‘Sadly, despite a significant and high profile education programme, our recycling contamination rates remain stubbornly high,’’ Dixon told The Timaru Herald.
‘‘On a national basis we’re still near the bottom of the table.’’
The council’s What’s In Your Bin campaign was launched in December 2020, after it was revealed the Timaru district, once one of the country’s leaders in recycling, is now seeing up to 48 per cent of its recyclable material diverted to landfill.
The campaign has included extensive advertising with billboards around town and a full page advertisement in The Timaru Herald, featuring mayor Nigel Bowen topless, encouraging residents to put their bottle lids in the red bin and the campaign’s slogan ‘‘In Timaru, we recycle topless’’.
‘‘While the introduction of the blue bin in July will reduce contamination levels a bit, we really need people to redouble their efforts to sort their waste and recycling,’’ Dixon said.
‘‘If you can’t see what plastic it is, it needs to go in the red bin, same if it’s sticky or icky, and remember no lids on bottles.’’
Dixon said as part of its new contract, where it has joined forces with the Waimate and Mackenzie district councils to award a $112 million contract to
Envirowaste, there will be more regular bin inspections to ‘‘identify what the major issues are, and offer people useful guidance to help them sort better’’.
‘‘Our whole system tries to balance offering an affordable waste collection service for people with the environmental benefits of recycling and composting what we can.
‘‘In order to keep this service sustainable and cost-effective we need everyone to take that extra couple of seconds to make sure they’re putting the right things in the right bins.’’