Waste Watchers director Marty Hoffart. Photo / NZME
About one in every 10 items put out for recycling in the first six months of Tauranga's new kerbside collection service has ended up in landfill instead.
But it appears the city's efforts to reduce waste going to landfill are making headway nonetheless, with waste expert Marty Hoffart saying the city has had a "big wake-up call".
Tauranga City Council figures obtained by the Bay of Plenty Times show from July to the end of December, 17,232 tonnes of waste was picked up from outside people's homes.
This consisted of 8206 tonnes of refuse, 2721 tonnes of recycling, 2177 tonnes of glass, 1962 tonnes of food waste and 2166 tonnes of garden waste.
The amount of refuse taken to landfill included recycling material from during Covid-19 alert level 4, which ran from August 17 to 31, when the material recycling facility was not operating. It also included contaminated recycling.
In 2020, a total of 38,000 tonnes of waste collected kerbside via council black bags or private contractor bins went to landfill.
Council manager of sustainability and waste Sam Fellows said 12 per cent of the recycling collected in the first six months of the new system was contaminated with items unable to be recycled.
Such items were usually picked up at the sorting facility next to Te Maunga Transfer Station, he said.
Fellows said staff removed non-recyclable items such as coffee cups, tissues, polystyrene and old toys, which were sent to landfill.
Dirty items were also not accepted, and nor were soft plastics that got stuck in sorting machines but could be recycled via a drop-off collection point at Countdown Bethlehem.
A monthly breakdown of collection figures revealed an increasing amount of recycling collected, along with a gradual reduction in refuse.
The amount of garden waste collected by the council's opt-in green bin collections - available for an extra cost - increased 213 per cent between July and December.
Fellows said the council was fortunate to "take a lot of learnings" from the Hamilton City and New Plymouth District councils, which established the same services in their areas and included a fortnightly garden waste collection after feedback.
He said no glass has gone to landfill due to glass recycling being sorted kerbside. If items were dirty, they were left behind, Fellows said.
Waste Watchers director Marty Hoffart said the new service was "a big wake-up call" for Tauranga residents.
"We couldn't afford to just get a little bit better. We had to do something major, do something dramatic to make that change."
People were forced to be more mindful of how much they put in their bins to be collected each fortnight, he said. It also meant people were becoming more mindful of recyclable items.
Hoffart was encouraged by the recycling figures despite the 12 per cent contamination rate.
"I don't see that as a big issue. That still means 88 per cent - that's almost 90 per cent - is correct, which is pretty damn good."
Hoffart said the success of the new service was evident in seeing food scraps bins roadside each week as "a lot of that would have been going to landfill otherwise".
"This is only the beginning."
Tauranga and Bay of Plenty Green Party convener Josh Cole said the figures were encouraging.
"This suggests people are learning and making an effort to recycle because of this new system. The same couldn't have been said about the old system."
Cole said he believed as people learned new habits the amount of waste sent to landfill, and contamination rates, would continue to drop. This would have an increasingly beneficial impact on not just the city "but worldwide".
"We are now making things out of recycled materials rather than mining for raw materials, chopping down trees for paper, drilling oil for plastics and destroying marine habitats to source iron sands and silica for glass and metals.
"As time passes, we will significantly reduce the need for extracting raw materials from the environment.
"Our grandchildren and great-grandchildren will be proud of us."
Reducing the amount of divertable waste that ended up in landfill was the primary goal of the council's Waste Minimisation Plan.
The plan stated landfills produce leachate, greenhouse gases and toxins, while waste broke down at a slow rate and remained a problem for future generations.
In 2018, a waste audit found 66.3 per cent of kerbside waste Tauranga sent to landfill had the potential to be recycled or composted. A council decision was made that year to introduce a citywide rates-funded kerbside collection service to better reduce and recover more waste. This came into effect in July.
All refuse collected is transported to the Hampton Downs landfill in Waikato.
Food scraps are transported to a composting facility in Hampton Downs and turned into compost used on gardens, farms and orchards mostly in the Bay of Plenty.
By the numbers - waste collection in the Western Bay
In the first five months of its new kerbside service, also launched on July 1, Western Bay of Plenty District Council collected 1693 tonnes of refuse and about 439 tonnes of recycling.
About 30.75 tonnes (7 per cent) of the recycling was contaminated and sent to landfill.
A separate 85 tonnes of recycling was taken to landfill, and included in total refuse figures, during Covid-19 alert level 4.
Council deputy chief executive officer Gary Allis said contamination ratios were identified through a sample audit for each load delivered into the processing facility.
The council collected 491 tonnes of glass. It also collected 240 tonnes of food waste which was mixed with mulched green waste and turned into compost that was on-sold and typically used on market gardens in Auckland, Allis said.
What can be recycled, and what can't:
YES - Paper and cardboard; plastic bottles and containers numbers one, two and five; tins and cans
NO - Plastic bottles and containers numbered three, four, six and seven; soft plastics (ie plastic bags); compostable items; coffee takeaway cups and lids; milk and juice cartons; clothing; toys; polystyrene; lids.
Western Bay of Plenty District could have fewer councillors to vote for next election.