The Green Spot Recycle right

Part 3 of 3

Following on from my June and July articles, here are some more tips to help you in your efforts to recycle right, taken largely from my informative trip to Visy Recycling.

Aluminium foil is a material that’s easy to recycle and can go in your kerbside recycling, but only if you save up enough to scrunch into a fist-sized ball so it doesn’t behave like paper and get misclassified by the recycling machinery. Make sure food and grease is removed first. This applies to most recycling, but when it comes to pizza boxes, grease is fine so long as the food scraps have been removed.

For other cardboard boxes, remove plastic packaging but tape and labels can remain. Robust boxes that beer and other cold beverages come in are suitable for recycling, as are boxes with food items that go in the freezer that have a subtle waxy inner lining. Liquid paper board, such as Tetra paks, are currently accepted in Auckland’s recycling but as there is no buyer for this going forward, they aren’t likely to be accepted beyond February.

Broken glass is fine to put in household recycling so long as the pieces are big enough to pick up with your fingers. The tiny fragments will need to be binned. But remember only grocery glassware is acceptable, such as wine bottles and jam jars rather than pyrex or drinking glasses.

It’s impossible to fit all the remaining tips in this third and final article on recycling but thankfully there is a handy chatbot called Binny that you can contact on messenger or download the app. Just type ‘Binny’ into the search bar on messenger chat, ask any Auckland recycling question and you’ll get an instant answer.

To finish, I am happy to dispel the longstanding myth that a misplaced landfill item in a home recycling bin contaminates the entire contents of a recycling truck, meaning it’s all discarded and not recycled. Whilst there are current issues with public recycling bins, I was reassured when visiting Auckland’s recycling centre to see that there are some hardworking staff and clever machinery who do indeed sort through the items. However, the amount of non-recyclable material placed in Auckland kerbside recycling bins has doubled over the last three years to 22 per cent, costing ratepayers an extra $3 million per year. So, let’s not be complacent with our recycling habits to help their systems run efficiently.

Useful links: https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/rubbish-recycling/binrequests/Pages/what-put-your-recycling.aspx https://www.wastenothing.co.nz