My "Good Life" in laws are always startled by the amount of recycling we have. And I saw this picture on face book recently and showed it to my children - Its a great visual way to talk to them about waste and recycling. The problem I have is, we don't practice what we preach and our recycling bin is up to the brim every rubbish day (fortnightly)

Is it an individual problem (can we tackle it one by one?) or is it beyond that?

Does the Government need to do something about it? Such as Legislation for companies to sell their products in biodegradable containers, OR Stop selling plastic wrapped fruit and vegetables


Pic Sourced from SARAH WILSON
Buy and use less stuff. It's the only way. Recycling bins should be seen as a last resort. PS note the takeaway coffee cup... These things DON'T decompose.
#giveashit #foodwastegirl
@1millionwomen

We have had an interesting case arise here in Hamilton with Pizza boxes. For some reason Hamilton City Council has decided that it will no longer collect Pizza boxes that are in the paper recycling. They didn't communicate this to residents, and for the last few weeks kerb sides have been full of uncollected pizza boxes, which of course have blown around and have looked terrible.

The Council's reasoning is that there is food waste within the boxes which means they become non recyclable. However the various Pizza companies are in an uproar as they have gone to great lengths to ensure their boxes are made from recyclable material.

On the Neighbour website, a gentleman mentioned that he cuts the cardboard up and cuts around any cardboard with food stuck to it, and that goes in the bin. The clean cardboard is added to his paper waste.

It will be interesting to see how this pans out, but until the current Contractor's contract expires in 2017 sometime, we apparently are left with the above dilemma (which hasn't surfaced until now).

Then on the flip side of the coin, at various Hamilton supermarkets and Red Sheds, the council have provided bins for soft plastic recycling... ie your bread bags, plastic bags and all of that soft type of plastic can be recycled. I am not sure if this initiative is country wide or not? But these can be recycled.

My view is "baby steps". You can't change behaviours in one great leap, for the vast majority of people it needs to be in incremental stages. Getting people to actually USE the recycle bins in the first place was the first thing, then once they're using them regularly, then you can start to look at perhaps reducing the amount of recycling itself. I don't know how old you are Ingrid, I'm 40 and I recall when recycle bins first showed up and it was a monumental change for people to pay attention enough to do something else with their cans, bottles and paper. There will of course be those who cry "change is happening too slowly" and that may well be the case, but human nature is a fickle thing and if you make it too hard for people, in general they'll buck against you and just take the easy road.

My view is that if people start to talk too loudly about the things like the photo you posted, then some will take the view of "why bother with the hassle of the recycle bin at all" and just start chucking everything back in the kitchen trash that goes to the landfill.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/20/2016 04:28AM by Jenna.

Pizza boxes, any food residue is scraped off and given to the dog, the box is ripped up and added to my compost bin. Problem solved.

Why is it that supermarkets think it's acceptable to wrap fruit and vegetables in non-recyclable packing such as trays and clingfilm when the said fruit and vegetables already have their own covering. Nothing angers me more than wanting to buy a few brussels sprouts than to find them packed in sealed bags containing far more than I can eat in a few days. Courgettes are done up on plastic trays with cling film covering them. Tomatoes, grapes, kiwifruit, etc are packed in plastic containers. I think the spotlight should be on this wasteful packaging that is contributing to our landfill, aside from preventing customers being able to buy the amount of each item they need rather than the amounts the supermarkets want us to buy.

Shoppers of NZ Unite - boycott these wrapped items - write to the local branch and head office of the supermarkets and let them.know of your disapproval. Highlight the problem on social media. Let's win this war of unnecessary packaging!

I feel the same with packaged meat in supermarkets Lorna. I loathe those polystyrene trays. Why does everything have to be packed for 'convenience' sake?
Regards,
Dawn.

Re: Pizza boxes

If their is any food residue on cans, bottles etc do the recycling companies not take them or not recycle them?

I assumed they were sorted and smashed up and cleaned (sterilised somehow) - I can't imagine everyone would scrub their recycled waste clean?

Jenna: I'm the same age as you and I do remember when recycling was introduced. I remember thinking it was quite exciting. However, It has taken my parents a long time to get used to it though!

I agree Lorna, it makes me cross.
I also tend to put vegetables straight into my trolley and then find the checkout operator wants to bag them in plastic before weighing them.
The excess packaging in the produce department is unacceptable.

I do the same Helen. I unload the produce and put it on the scales myself so it is easier for the checkout person.

They have just sent me a NEW recycling bin - nothing wrong with the old one and now we can put both recycling and paper in the same bin!
What are they going to do with all old recycling bins? Collect them and recycle them? Thats a lot of plastic!!!!

Prior to the new method, we just put our paper out separately - I just dont see the sense in the new system although it does make it easy to through it all in together.

Northshore Auckland area.

Vanessa

People get to keep the old bins and use them however they wish.

We live in rural Rodney and got delivered a new wheelie bin too. With a 200m gravel driveway up a steep hill, we're not entirely thrilled about the new system. The old bins got chucked in the back of my husband's ute. The response from the council for the many people like us has been to "leave your new bin at the gate and use the old bins to ferry your recyclables from the house". Great idea, eyesore green recycle bins hanging out at everyone's driveway all the time. And how long until they get pinched or broken? No doubt we'll just drag the new bin down the drive with the towbar, but I really wonder about how robust the bins are and how well the wheels and axles will deal with the the bumping.

I really dont understand why we got a new bin though - one I dont need or want. (what a waste of money too).
Why didnt they just say, put your papers and recycling in together?
Clearly its all getting dumped into the same place n the truck anyway...

Have you seen the two new bits of good news lately?

No.1 Pak'nSave and New World stores nationwide are moving to recyclable meat trays by the end of the month (July).
No.2 New World is rewarding customers for bringing their own bags, in a move to discourage use of plastic bags.

[www.stuff.co.nz]