Soft plastic recycling bins are back – here's what you can and can not do

The recycling bins made of soft plastic are back.

The Love NZ soft plastics recycling program, suspended in 2018, has returned to Auckland and Hamilton and, starting in October, will be in Wellington as well.

It can be difficult to keep track of what needs to be recycled, what not to recycle and what is just wasteful. We all sometimes make mistakes, and there are not always clear recycling rules.

Although we felt that the people who filled the green bins with coffee cups and food last time knew it better. So let's do a quick refresher course.

READ MORE:
* Flexible plastic recycling goes to Hamilton and Wellington
* Inside Future Post: How a kiwifruit company turns plastic bags into fences
* A big zero: Was the flexible plastic recycling program a waste of time and money?
* 10 things that are not part of your recycle bin

A "soft plastic" can be folded easily in the hand – think of most food packages, transport bags and packaging. They can not embark on general recycling because they are too small and malleable and tangle the processing machines.

Single-use plastic bags made up 10% of New Zealand's soft plastics. We stocked 400 tonnes after the Australian company Replas refused to take it in 2018 and the kiwi companies Future Post and 2nd Life Plastic (which mainly produce fence posts from the waste) were temporarily overloaded.

The average Auckland grocery store now collects 168 kg of soft plastics, down from 174 kg a year ago.

"As consumers become more aware of the impact of flexible plastics, they make better choices to reduce waste, for example by using reusable bags and packaging, which we already see in supermarkets." , said Soft Plastics Recycling Scheme chairman Malcolm Everts.

Single-use plastic, including soft plastic, accounted for 77% of Sustainable Coastlines' litter around New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, according to the 2018 Auckland Council Waste Management and Minimization Plan. .

WHAT IS PLASTIC SOFT

• Bread, pasta and rice bags
• Bags of fresh produce and net bags of citrus
• Frozen food bags (frozen vegetables, fries, hamburgers, nuggets, poultry, etc.)
• Confectionery Packaging and Silver Lined Fry Bags: "Thin plastic bags and pouches imitating an aluminum foil in which some cookies, chocolate bars, crackers and chips come in, are perfect for recycling. "
• Packaging of dairy products
• Plastic wrappers around toilet paper, paper towels, diapers and sanitary products
• Mail packs
• Journal envelope
• Envelopes and bags of chocolate and muesli biscuits (packaging only)
• Lining of cereal boxes
• Bubble film and large plastic sheets in which the furniture is wrapped (first cut the size of a sheet of A3 paper)

You can leave small paper labels. If the paper covers the majority of items, you must leave it out.

WHAT IS NOT IN FLEXIBLE PLASTIC

This seems counter-intuitive, because the plastic film is both soft and plastic.

But for something to be recycled, it must be clean, dry and empty. The project will not accept plastic wrap because "the experiment shows that it is often contaminated with food," Everts said.

This is a common sense thing. Compostable products are designed to be … Composted.

Degradable or compostable (bio) labeled bags have been specifically designed to decompose in the general waste stream. "We can not use them for recycling because they start to degrade before being treated," Everts adds.

• Thick aluminum paper bags, for example dog cookie bags
• Bags contaminated with food and / or liquids or difficult to clean
• Cookie trays

How much are we sorting recycling?

In the interest of honest journalism, I did a very unscientific tour Stuff & # 39;s Auckland Press Room to locate bins.

How well does our office manage to recycle properly? The answer is not very.

At least two flexible plastic bins have been contaminated with hard and dirty plastic objects; Even though there are signs with images describing what should be placed in each bin directly above them.

The easiest way to integrate flexible plastic recycling into your routine is to store it in a reusable bag. Throw it in the trunk when you go to your weekly grocery store, then empty it into one of the green bins that you will visit.

Why are there no garbage cans in my area?

"We are taking a gradual expansion approach to continuously monitor the volumes we collect," Everts said.

Collections in some stores in Wellington and Hutt Valley will resume as of October. At the present time, there are no transformers on the South Island, so the system does not plan to restart the collections in the immediate future.

"The system is funded and managed by the business sector, which is developing more products to reuse plastic," said Everts. "We hope to see flexible plastic recycling treatment projects funded as part of this year's fundraising campaign and an additional $ 40 million announced through the Provincial Growth Fund.

"It is only with a substantial increase in processing capacity, including in the South Island, that the system will be able to deploy its full potential".

PLEASE DO NOT FORGET

Everts also wants us all to think about using reusable alternatives and to ensure that the waste we recycle is clean, dry and empty.

In general, we do not wash soft plastics well enough.

"People do not realize that someone (a human being) will solve the problem, and no one deserves to sort your stinky chicken pack," said blogger and environmental activist Kate Hall.

If soft plastic recycling is not available, do not try to include it in a general recycling bin, but throw it in instead.

"There's a common misconception that everything can be recycled if it's thrown in the trash, what people call it the" wish cycle, "Hall said." But they do not know that this decision could contaminate the entire trash, which means that everything is thrown into a landfill. "

If waste is not created, no one needs to recycle it. Recycling, it's a bit like the trampoline at the bottom of a cliff. Reducing consumption and reusable products are the keystone.

"I think recycling plastics and soft plastics is such a hype, but the real problem is stopping everything together," said Hall. "People like to say 'oh, I recycle!' And applaud, when in fact we should reuse and shrink.

"As a zero-wasteful attempt, I do my best to treat my recycling as a waste: I avoid both as much as possible."

The collective effort has an impact.