Unwanted blue-bin plastic gets the tip

By WAYNE THOMPSON

Auckland city residents who thought they were doing their bit for recycling have been told that some of their plastic offerings are going straight to the rubbish tip.

Plastic containers such as ice cream and yoghurt cartons are being rejected from blue bin collections.

And the Auckland City Council has admitted they have not been recycled since the system began almost two years ago.

The council says the only plastic items accepted by its contractor, Streetsmart, are grade one and two plastic bottles from kitchen, laundry or bathroom.

Rejected items now include grade five plastics, as well as grades one and two plastic containers.

Ice cream, butter, yoghurt and takeaways containers, and microwave meal trays are expected to go in the red-top wheelie bin with other household rubbish.

They would be buried at a landfill, with other unwanted plastics, said council refuse procurement manager Warwick Jaine.

He said the contractor sold the grade one and two plastic bottles that it recovered to companies in New Zealand, China and Australia for use in products from carpets to buckets.

But there was no market for other plastics thrown out by households.

"Until now the recycling contractor has sorted these at recycling centres and taken them to the landfill - a costly way of disposing of them.

"Not collecting these plastics and diverting them to the wheelie bin will reduce these costs.

"Recycling is about sustainability, and that includes recycling for sustainable markets."

The alternative was for ratepayers to pay about $100,000 a year extra so contractors took everything.

Other councils in the region have restricted their acceptance of non-saleable plastics, or are negotiating contracts which cut out grade five.

National recycling operators spokesman Peter Thorne said it was "a bit optimistic" to take grade five in the first place.

Operators had found a fickle market and needed the security of a handling subsidy, which councils refused to give.

Mr Thorne said it was disappointing for the recycling industry to have to take a backward step after a decade of progress.

Mt Eden ratepayer Raa Austin complained to the Herald that she had been misled by council recycling promotions.

She had believed that all the plastics she rinsed clean and put in the bin would be reused.

"Two years ago the council changed our wheelie bin from 240 litres to 120 litres and said the point was to encourage recycling and reduce the amount going to the landfill," she said.

"I'm annoyed because we are paying extra for collection now and yet we are getting less."

Council works committee chairman Bill Christian said the council had tried to change to a recycling culture since July 2001.

But the message on what plastic was acceptable was hard to get across.

Mr Christian said recycling was still worthwhile - in two years the city had achieved a 35 per cent reduction in the amount of waste going to rubbish tips.