Understanding reycling

1 August 2017

Recycling in Wellington

More than 97% of households in New Zealand have access to kerbside or drop-off recycling – as a result, recycling of packaging has doubled in the last decade.

Home recycling is consistently the most reported sustainability activity by Kiwis – most of us do it, most of the time. But do we really know how to do it right?

Batches of recycling that are too dirty, or are mixed up with other stuff, can be too hard or expensive to sort and may not end up where we all hope they will.

A bit of horror story on NewsHub recently is a reminder to ensure we all do our bit to make the process successful. It’s been a while since I checked myself on what I toss in my green bucket, so here are my top tips:

Check before you chuck – plastics with recycling symbols 1-7 are all good in Wellington City (check your local council website for rules in your area). Items without a number are best kept out of the recycling stream as they could contaminate an otherwise “good” batch. Wellington City has a good recycling directory.
Soft plastics (anything you can scrunch in your hand) are currently collected privately with drop-offs at supermarkets. Check the Soft Plastics website for more details.
Lid police – lids off people. That means off the plastic milk bottles, off the glass wine bottles and jars. If they have their own symbol, then recycle as labelled. If not, bin ’em. Lids can scupper the operation for a few reasons, so if in doubt leave them out.
Clean and green - wash or at least rinse all your recycling. Not only is it nicer for the people who have to sort it ( yes, they are real people), but really grubby stuff is of low value and might create enough contamination to send a whole batch to the dump.

Want to go one better? Avoid or minimise packaging altogether:

Take your own shopping bags. We have a few for sale in our EcoShop
Take your own vege produce bags – we sell handmade upcycled ones from net curtains. They are cooler than you’d think.
Choose packaging that can be reused or recycled – like glass jars you can fill with yummy homemade jam later.
Coffee lover? – take your own reusable cup. Cafés sometimes offer a discount if you supply your own cup.

Reducing and recycling are surest ways to reduce waste to landfill – those stinking great holes where waste rots slowly, can leach evil juices into the soil, causes land-use conflicts (e.g. with housing) and adds to litter ending up in stormwater and eventually in our oceans. It’s a small action but it empowers people to reduce their collective impact on the planet. Keep it up!

Our Reycling programmes

E-Waste recycling

Drop off your e-waste to us. We take everything from TVs, stereos, heaters, phones, cellphones, batteries, small appliances.

Battery recycling

Drop off your batteries to us. We take domestic and commercial regular batteries, as well as laptop and power tool batteries.

Curtain reuse

The Wellington Curtain Bank upcycles pre-loved curtains for those who need them. Drop your mould free pre-loved curtains off to us.

Plastic & metal lid recycling

We’re a central city drop-off for metal bottle caps, lids for glass jars and plastic lids.

Metal recycling

We’re a central city drop off for small to medium-sized metal items. If it fits in a reusable shopping bag, you can bring it into us.

Tool donation

Give your power, hand or gardening tools a second life. We'll accept any kind of electrical or hand tool whatever the condition for free.

Packaging returns

We’re a central city drop-off for reusable packaging return. Check out the heroes of reuse who are making reusable packaging a core part of their business model.

Recycle a Device

Donate your laptop or tablet and we’ll send them on to RAD who will fix it up before gifting to someone who needs it. It’s all about bridging the digital divide.