Photo by Paweł Czerwiński on Unsplash
I am hugely passionate about proper recycling practices, and it’s something that I’m still learning about all the time. I’ve always been a recycler – I remember growing up where there wasn’t recycling collected (we are VERY spoiled in most of New Zealand) and my family would collect our recycling until there was enough to do a run to the depot to drop it all off. It’s always just made sense that if there is an option to salvage products instead of sending them to landfill or letting them pollute our planet, we should take it!
There are a lot of resources out there about recycling, but you could honestly spend days reading everything that’s available. Here in Auckland, here are some of the simple basics that I see people getting wrong quite often. It’s quite often not due to laziness or even lack of caring, it’s usually because people simply don’t know. So if you’ve found anything useful here, please share it far and wide – better recycling practices by everyone will make a huge difference – you’d be surprised how much of what you put into your recycling bin actually ends up in landfill.
1. Recycling should be clean
There’s this common misconception that recycling plants have these big magical washing machines that will rid your recycling of leftover food, milk, oil, etc. As nice an idea as it is, it’s totally inaccurate. Your recycling needs to be rinsed at the very least. If you have something like a bottle of oil, I recommend giving it a quick wash with some hot soapy water. The grossness of dirty recycling can very quickly contaminate a whole load of recycling and render it useless – so off it will go to landfill.
2. Plastic shopping bags should never go into your recycling bin
Plastic bags and other thin (think scrunchable) plastics shouldn’t go into your recycling bin, primarily because they can jam the machines, but also because this isn’t the right place for them and they won’t get recycled. Instead, lots of local supermarkets are now offering soft plastic recycling which is amazing! You’d be surprised at how much less rubbish you’ll have just by diverting your soft plastics to be recycled correctly. We keep ours with our reusable shopping bags and drop them off each time we visit Countdown. Check out Soft Plastic Recycling for more info. You can recycle bread bags, frozen food bags, biscuit wrap, chip bags, past
a and rice bags, courier envelopes, shopping bags, toilet paper bags, and the list goes on!
3. Coffee cups and dirty food containers don’t belong in recycling
Takeaway coffee cups are typically lined with plastic to keep them from leaking. Unless your coffee cup specifically says that it’s recyclable, it’s not. If it says it’s compostable, it still can’t go in your recycling. More on that below. The lid from your coffee cup however, can usually be recycled. Please give it a quick rinse first though! Your food containers for lunch on the go can often be recycled (especially if it’s plastic – it’s more of a grey area if it’s cardboard) but remember point one above – it needs to be clean! Recyclables contaminated with food waste are super cost intensive to clean and then recycle so they’ll get sent to landfill. Get the job of cleaning them out of the way there’s a significantly higher chance that they’ll get a second life as another product. Pizza boxes are often a source of arguments over whether they can be recycled or not. The answer from Auckland council is – yes they can! Just be sure to scrape off any food scraps before putting them in your recycling bin.
4. Compostable items often can’t be recycled
These items typically need to be composted in commercial facilities (unless it says domestically compostable on the item). There are a lot of suppliers providing compostable coffee cups, plastic bags, and cutlery nowadays, which is great! The issue here lies with the correct disposal of the items. Most items are actually only “commercially compostable” which means that they need to get to one of the few commercial composting facilities available in NZ. When these compostable items decompose in landfill, they create methane, a greenhouse gas with stronger heat trapping effects than carbon dioxide. We Compost is coming up with some great initiatives for collecting compostable packing and food scraps (like these compost bins in Parnell), but it’s something that we need to see on a much greater scale for there to be any meaningful benefit. The terms compostable and biodegradable in NZ don’t currently have any standards that they need to adhere to, so there’s always the chance that what you’re buying won’t reduce to organic matter at all, it may only degrade into smaller pieces of plastic. PLA (plant based plastic) can technically be recycled if it has the recycling symbol (7) on it, though be aware that it’s often not commercially viable to compost so it may still end up in landfill.
5. General household items that don’t go into recycling bins
Cookware, pyrex and drinking glasses can’t be recycled. The chemicals used in the process that strengthens them to make them safe to use also gives them a much higher melting point and prevents them from being recycled. Any glass that isn’t a food or beverage container is a no-no. This goes for window glass, lightbulbs, vases, any china and crockery etc.
Appliances can’t go into recycling, even if they’re made of a metal that you think should be recyclable. They need to be sent to an e-waste facility to be dealt with safely and properly.
Polystyrene can’t be recycled in Auckland. Check out your local council to see if you can recycle this in your area or not.
Any building waste or paint tins etc can’t be recycled. Your local paint shop will take your used paint tins for recycling.
6. E-waste needs to be sent to specialised facilities or taken to regular Council collection days
E-waste carries a certain danger to recycle and handle and needs to be treated with care in the disposal process. Things that can go into e-waste (and definitely shouldn’t go into recycling!) are: computers, batteries, home appliances, phones, screens, chargers, etc. There are so many places that do free e-waste collection, just do a google search and add your area. Also check out your local council as they often have regular drop off days in various areas. I collect all of our e-waste at work, including used batteries, and get a free collection once we have the minimum required amount of items. A good way to remember what should do into e-waste is that if it needs power to operate, from a cable or even a battery, it should go into e-waste!
Have a look on your recyclables and get to learn your recycling by the numbers – they’re usually found underneath bottles. 1, 2 and 4 are the easiest to recycle and will yield the best profit for recycling companies so it’s always worth making sure that these are cleaned and recycled. Here is a fascinating article on what the different numbers mean, what products they are typically found in and what they are turned into once they’re recycled.
I always advocate for refusing single use items where I can, but convenience is hard to turn down and sometimes it’s not actually possible. When you’re finished with a household item or appliance, see if you can rehome it if it’s still in good working condition. A quick Google search will help you to find the best way to recycle something safely in your neighbourhood.
Remember that every bit counts! Recycle the right things and recycle them clean. I’d love to hear any questions or tips that other people have. It’s a constant journey to learn more about reducing our waste and landfill impact.
