Soft plastics contaminate kerbside recycling bins in Nelson-Tasman

Tuesday, 3 October 2017

Soft plastics such as these have no place in kerbside recycling bins across Nelson-Tasman. However, they can be deposited in recycling bins at supermarkets.

Nelson-Tasman residents are being urged to bin the practice of including soft plastics in their kerbside recycling.

Since a soft plastic recycling scheme was introduced in mid-September at some supermarkets, many residents have started putting items such as plastic grocery bags and frozen food bags into their kerbside recycling bins.

Kerbside recycling in Nelson is popular but not everything can be put in the bins.

An audit of more than 200 recycling bins at Richmond last Friday found about 80 per cent contained soft plastics, which cannot be recycled locally.

'We are not set up to deal with soft plastics,' said Tasman District Council waste management asset engineer David Stephenson.

Soft plastics can only be left in bins such as this in the New World supermarket at Nelson.

'They are too light for our gravity-based sorting system, they can jam the machinery and we do not have the handling systems to bundle, compact and bale them.'

* Nelson-Tasman residents urged to keep recycling clean**

It's also a problem at Nelson where anecdotal information supplied to the Nelson City Council indicated the level of soft plastics in kerbside collection bins had almost doubled since the supermarket scheme was announced.

Stephenson said the most common items were plastic grocery bags and soft plastic food packaging – often still stuffed inside the cardboard box the product came in.

'Soft plastics must be dropped off at a participating supermarket to be recycled, not put in your kerbside recycling bin,' he said.

'It seems lots of people are really keen to recycle soft plastics – and that's great. Unfortunately though, if you put them in your kerbside bin, [contractor] Smart Environmental will not be able to take your recycling.'

A random audit of some recycling bins early last week at Mapua indicated there could be a problem, which prompted the inspection of bins at Richmond. The high level of soft plastic contamination was a surprise.

'We were a bit shocked,' Stephenson said. 'I think, it's just an honest mistake from people.'

He added that because of the amount of contamination, some leeway had been given and Smart Environmental had continued to take recycling from bins with a moderate level of soft plastics.

However, those with large volumes were being left on the kerb with a sticker notifying residents that their bin could not be collected because of contamination.

'Unfortunately, our collectors have been subjected to verbal abuse for not taking bins with a lot of soft plastics in them by those who insist they are now recyclable,' Stephenson said. 'Yes, they are but only at a participating supermarket drop point.'

Residents can drop soft plastics into recycling bins at New World, Pak 'n Save and Countdown supermarkets at Nelson, Richmond and Motueka as part of the Love NZ soft plastic recycling programme that was rolled out across the region in mid-September.

Those supermarkets use their own distribution networks to transport the soft plastics to Christchurch where they are recycled.

'The great thing about the Love NZ soft plastics recycling scheme is that it is an industry-led initiative,' Stephenson said.

A recycling bin for the plastic wrappers around copies of the Nelson Mail has also been set up in the Nelson Mail office.

Visit recycling.kiwi.nz/solutions/soft-plastics for more information about the Love NZ soft plastics recycling scheme.

What can I put in the Love NZ recycling bins at participating stores?

* Carrier bags;

* bread, pasta and rice bags;

* fresh produce bags and netting citrus bags;

* frozen food bags;

* confectionery wrap and lolly bags;

* dairy wrappers;

* plastic packaging around toilet paper, kitchen towels, nappies and sanitary products;

* courier packs;

* newspaper wrap;

* chocolate and muesli bar wrappers and biscuit packets (wrapper only);

* silver-lined chip and cracker packets;

* squeeze pouches;

* sturdy pet food bags;

* icecream wrappers;

* cereal box liners;

* bubble wrap and large sheets of plastic that furniture is wrapped in (cut into pieces the size of an A3 sheet of paper first).