Polystyrene can take hundreds of years to break down.
Polystyrene can take hundreds of years to break down.
Palmerston North has a new drop-off point for all clean household polystyrene.
The Ferguson Street Recycling Centre is now accepting household polystyrene packaging, also known as Styrofoam, commonly used for packing computers, electronics, appliances and toys.
Some of those items, especially large household appliances, can come wrapped with a trailer-load of polystyrene that can take hundreds of years to break down.
Despite being 98% air, it takes up a lot of space in landfills.
Palmerston North City Council group manager of resource recovery Bryce Hosking said he expected the new service to be popular.
Palmerston North City Council group manager of resource recovery Bryce Hosking believes the new service will become popular.
“Last year we asked residents if they needed a service like this and the overwhelming response was yes,” he said.
“A lot of people are sick of cramming bulky polystyrene into their rubbish bins and bags, so we’re pleased to be introducing this new service for Palmerston North.”
“Because polystyrene is lightweight, bulky, and difficult to clean, it’s a costly material to recycle at an efficient scale; hence why we’ve been investigating this for a while.”
The polystyrene will be compacted by a melting machine before being recycled into picture frames and decorative mouldings.
The recycling service was limited to households only and a small cost was attached.
It will cost 70¢ to recycle 100g of polystyrene. As an example, to recycle the amount of polystyrene that comes with an average inkjet printer would cost about $3.
“This service is for all Palmerston North residents, but not for commercial purposes. Our recycler, E-Cycle, intends to extend this service to commercial customers, so if you’re interested, please get in touch with them directly,” Hosking said.
“Instead of covering the costs to provide this service in your rates, we’ve gone with a user-pays option like our other recycling options, as some households don’t go through any polystyrene at all,” he said.
“We’re committed to being an eco-city and our Waste Management and Minimisation Plan has a goal of increasing the proportion of waste diverted from landfill from 38% to 48% by 2025.”
“We can’t do this alone, so enabling our residents to recycle more items is crucial in helping achieve our targets.”
