Our five hardest-to-recycle items - and what to do with them

Friday, 14 April 2017

Many recyclable products end up in landfill because Kiwis do not know how to recycle them correctly.

It is not always clear if something can be recycled. Ged Cann looks at five of the hardest-to-recycle items, and what to do with them.

Chilltainers - the packaging used to keep food cold when it is delivered - are ending up in some landfills, despite the claim they are 95 to 97 per cent recyclable.

The flame-proof plastic used in most home printers cannot be recycled with most regular plastics.

Wellington City Council does not recycle them because, like most of the country, it cannot recycle mixed materials, such as chilltainers, because it is too difficult to separate the layers.

So any of the popular thermal packaging units that turn up at its recycling plant are sent to landfill.

LCD screens can be sent abroad to be recycled into new screens, provided they are not cracked.

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Chilltainer director Hamish McGregor says the product is recyclable, and all Wellington needs to do is ship them to Auckland's Penrose recycling plant where they have been recycled for more than a decade.

While untreated timber can be chipped and used in gardens, there is not currently any way to recycle treated construction timber.

One of the largest buyers of Chilltainers, My Food Bag, now recollects the packaging for recycling, and McGregor says the company is working with partners to ensure more are kept out of the waste stream.

But the Chilltainer situation highlights just how easily recyclable products can end up as waste if they are not dealt with correctly.

Wellington City Council resource recovery manager Roderick Boys says treated construction timber can be reused.

Many other so-called recyclable items present a similar challenge.

PRINTERS

Many people see a home printer and think it can go out on the kerb with other plastics, but the flame-resistant qualities of printer plastic means it cannot be recycled in the same way.

For most people, the easiest drop-off point for items like printers are organisations like the Sustainability Trust in Wellington, who work with specialised recyclers.

Kevin Ruscoe, general manager of electronics recycler ITRecycla, says the best thing you could do with a printer is remove the circuit board and shred the casing.

Most of the circuit board's components can be recycled, but there are often toxic lead components that have to be disposed of safely.

Ink and toner cartridges are removed, and because they contain cadmium, must also avoid being sent to landfill.

LCD SCREENS

If you want to recycle your old LCD, take care of it, because it is a lot easier to recycle uncracked.

There is no process available to recycle LCDs in this country but any intact screen can be sent to Thailand for reuse and a new screen.

But the small amount of mercury in the television backlights means any damage makes them hard to export.

Ruscoe currently has 50 cubic-metres and multiple tonnes of damaged screens stockpiled, waiting for an international buyer.

'We are currently talking to Mitsubishi, who have a process to recover the rare-earth metals from an LED screen.'

BATTERIES

The majority of lithium-ion batteries are recyclable, non-hazardous, and a valued commodity.

'The world is short of lithium-ion, and if we all drive electric cars we are going to need them,' Ruscoe says.

One of the biggest hurdles is collecting large quantities in order to justify the shipping cost to Europe.

That is where organisations like the Sustainability Trust come in, to help avoid individual batteries trickling in.

It is the smaller batteries that present a challenge to recyclers. Two types of rechargeable batteries in particular, nickel metal hydride and nickel–cadmium, can be hazardous if sent to the dump.

ENERGY-EFFICIENT AND FLUORESCENT BULBS

Lightbulbs look like any other glass. But because they are heat resistant, break easily and sometimes contain dangerous chemicals, councils often do not accept them in glass recycling.

Interwaste is the only recycler of fluorescent and energy-efficient compact fluorescent lights (CFL) in the country. It says Kiwis can recycle their bulbs by ordering a pre-stamped box from Interwaste or by visiting local recycling trusts.

Managing director Lincoln Falconer says an estimated six million fluorescent bulbs are imported into New Zealand every year, but only about one million are recycled.

The biggest challenge with recycling fluorescent lighting is the mercury content.

But Interwaste is able to able to separate the components and recycle them.

'The glass is used in things like cement. It's in such small volumes [that] it's not a valuable product.'

TREATED TIMBER

For a lot of Kiwis the use of treated construction timber seems obvious - burn it.

But that releases harmful substances like arsenic and lead into the home and community.

Research from GNS Sciences found levels of these substances were up to three times the guideline for human health during winter in some inner-city areas, precisely because people were burning it.

Wellington City Council resource recovery manager Roderick Boys says after the Canterbury earthquakes there was a big push for more options when recycling treated construction timber. But as yet, there are no recycling options.

'They can be reused, absolutely, if it's a piece that's long enough, you can de-nail it and reuse it,' Boys says.

But the nature of deconstruction often means wood is heavily damaged during bulldozing.