Nelson is set to lead the country with the introduction of the first kerbside recycling trial of soft plastics, which could be in place as early as June.
In a presentation to full Nelson City Council meeting on Thursday, chief executive of The Packaging Forum Rob Langford and its soft plastic scheme manager Lyn Mayes, told councillors how the scheme would be the first of it’s kind for the country.
The Packaging Forum operate the soft plastic recycling scheme at supermarkets and Warehouse stores in the Nelson Tasman region, which is currently seeing 1.5 tonnes of soft plastics recycled each month.
The plastics are then processed into fence posts by Future Post at its Blenheim plant.
Nationally, the scheme recycled 700 tonnes last year, but this year, due to demand from Future Post, they are budgeting to increase that to 1200 tonnes.
The new proposal would see five per cent of households – around 1000 homes – delivered a coloured bag, much like a more durable version of a rubbish bag.
Soft plastics would be collected in the bag, which would be placed next to the 240lt recycling bin when it's put out at the kerb on recycling day.
Recycling would be collected as usual by EnviroNZ, and they would separate the large bags at the Materials Recovery Facility ready for transport to FuturePost.
The cost of the six-month trial, including communications, bags, and additional collection and sorting costs, would be fully-funded by The Packaging Forum scheme, at no cost to the ratepayer.
Lyn says recycling needs to be made more convenient for people.
She says a survey undertaken by Horizon Research in March showed that 75 per cent of Kiwis said that convenience like kerbside solutions would help improve recycling. Plastic bags are the item recycled least, due to it being less convenient.
The opportunity would see Nelson lead the way in kerbside collection and with 1000 homes participating could see an extra 1 tonne per month – effectively doubling the current recycling rate.
“But then, if you take it beyond that to your full coverage, we really will be chipping into the demand that the local recycling plant in Blenheim has.”
Nelson Mayor Nick Smith says he was “hugely excited” when the company approached him about the trial which poses a “grand opportunity” for Nelson.
“I think this is a really good opportunity for Nelson to take the lead,” he says.
“Globally there has been a significant change in the way we approach material end of life recovery,” Rob says. “I think the focus is moving away from waste to landfill to diversion to recycling. Nelson has a unique opportunity to lead the way in helping us achieve that,” Rob says.
Council will now work with The Packaging Forum to get the trial up and running.
